Follow your heart: Heart rate controlled music recommendation for low stress air travel*

Long distance travel is an unusual activity for humans. The economical cabin environment (low air circulation, limited space, low humidity, etc.) during the long haul flights causes discomfort and even stress for many passengers. In-flight video and music systems are commonly available to improve the comfort level of the passengers. However, current in-flight music systems do not explore how the content can be used to reduce passengers stress. Most of these systems are designed and implemented assuming a homogeneous passenger group that has similar tastes and desires. In this paper, we present a heart rate controlled in-flight music recommendation system for reducing the stress during air travel. The system recommends personalized music playlists to the passengers and attempts to keep their heart rate in a normal range with these playlists. Experiments in a simulated long haul flight cabin environment find that the passengers’ stress can indeed be significantly reduced through listening to the recommended music playlists.