Interoception Enhanced via the Ears?

Abstract. Heartbeat perception tasks are used to measure interoceptive accuracy. This paper explores the effect of reducing external auditory stimuli on heartbeat perception. Three samples (121 participants in total) performed a heartbeat perception task. Samples 1 and 2 wore ear-protectors and sample 3 did not. There were no differences in interoceptive accuracy between samples 1 and 2 but samples 1 and 2 showed significantly higher interoceptive accuracy than sample 3. These results suggest ear-protectors could be used to manipulate heartbeat perception and that the auditory component of heartbeat perception might be given greater consideration.