Breathm: A Calm Device with Personalized Slow Breathing Guidance

We present Breathm, a haptic feedback cushion designed to lead user into a state of relaxation. To achieve this, Breathm provides slow breathing guidance by expanding and contracting, mirroring the natural abdominal movements during inhalation and exhalation. Instead of providing a fixed target breathing rate, Breathm continuously monitors user's breathing and adjusts the target throughout the guidance process, ensuring a smooth transition from user's natural breathing rate to the intended slower pace. Through this design, Breathm facilitates user to calm their breath and relax. A user study is conducted to evaluate the impact of user's breath mirror period on the guidance design. Our results show that, within the same timeframe, participants achieve longer breath extension when this mirror period is incorporated.