Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) Analysis of Emotion When Reading e-Books with Sound Effects

Abstract

The e-book market has been experiencing a boom recently, as more books are available in a number of different e-book reader formats, including tablets, smartphones, and dedicated e-book devices. Although there have been studies to improve the performance and speed of e-book software and hardware, there has been little research on the content of e-books, despite the fact that they offer more features than their printed counterparts. This chapter focuses on the emotive use of sound effects in e-book reader software by analyzing near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) of the user. NIRS is used as a physiological method for measurement of the reading emotion. The results show that the oxygenated hemoglobin (oxyHb) in blood of the reader's brain increases when reading a portion of an e-book with sound effects suitable for the contents of that portion of the book. These results suggest that e-book reader contents made available with suitable sound effects may concentrate emotions and lead to more intensity in the experience of reading selection of such e-books. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)