Development of audio-guided deep breathing and auditory Go/No-Go task on evaluating its impact on the wellness of young adults: a pilot study

Objectives
Numerous studies indicate that deep breathing (DB) enhances wellbeing. Multiple deep breathing methods exist, but few employ audio to reach similar results. This study developed audio-guided DB and evaluated its immediate impacts on healthy population via self-created auditory Go/No-Go task, tidal volume changes, and psychological measures.


Methods
Audio-guided DB with natural sounds to guide the DB was developed. Meanwhile, audio-based Go/No-Go paradigm with Arduino was built to measure the attention level. Thirty-two healthy young adults (n=32) were recruited. Psychological questionnaires (Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised (CAMS-R), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)), objective measurements with tidal volume and attention level with auditory Go/No-Go task were conducted before and after 5 min of DB.


Results
Results showed a significant increment in tidal volume and task reaction time from baseline (p=0.003 and p=0.033, respectively). Significant correlations were acquired between (1) task accuracy with commission error (r=−0.905), (2) CAMS-R with task accuracy (r=−0.425), commission error (r=0.53), omission error (r=0.395) and PSS (r=−0.477), and (3) RSES with task reaction time (r=−0.47), task accuracy (r=−0.362), PSS (r=−0.552) and CAMS-R (r=0.591).


Conclusions
This pilot study suggests a link between it and young adults’ wellbeing and proposes auditory Go/No-Go task for assessing attention across various groups while maintaining physical and mental wellness.