Analysis of environment to relieve stress experienced by children with developmental disorders—research for development of biofeedback support system using music

Abstract

In recent years, the number of children with developmental disorders has significantly increased in Japan, accounting for 6% of children attending regular classes. Although schools have been required to support children with special needs since 2016, sufficient support is yet to be made available. Children with developmental disorders are sensitive to various types of stress and experience coping difficulties. Therefore, a favorable environment should be created to relieve the stress experienced by children with developmental disorders. We believe that inducing eustress via subsets of the five senses is an effective way to relieve distress. To investigate this, we made the subjects listen to music, which was safe and easy to implement. We observed the impact of various types of music as positive stressors on the subjects and discerned the effectiveness of music in inducing a state of relaxation based on measurements obtained on an electroencephalogram (EEG). Cognitive tasks and EEG results showed that concentration and flexibility of thoughts were influenced by music. We confirm that music relieves stress and the types of music that lower stress are different for every individual. We confirm that music as a good stressor relieves bad stress, and the types of music that cause good stress are different for every individual.