Increase in the timing coincidence of a respiration event induced by listening repeatedly to the same music track

Abstract

Listening to a piece of music evokes many physiological responses including changes in respiration. The present study shows that respiration is entrained to the musical timing by comparing the changes in respiration timing and respiration period along gaining in listening experience. Participants listened to the same track once a day for 10 days. The distribution of the timings of respiration on the music track was calculated using kernel density estimation, and probability of the coincidence was evaluated statistically using surrogate data. The results show that participants unconsciously changed their respiration timing to coincide with the music track as they gain experience in listening. On the other hand, respiration period did not change. © 2012 The Acoustical Society of Japan.