Transmission of Baby’s Heartbeat Rhythm to Its Parent Via Internet and Vice Versa

概要

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In Japan, the declining birthrate has resulted in a social problem, namely, the shortage of a young labor force. One of the ways by which this issue can be resolved is by establishing social surroundings in which parents with a baby are able to work comfortably. In this study, a system is proposed that can give comfort and peace of mind to a baby by transmitting the heartbeat rhythm of its parent to the baby through the Internet and simulating the transmitted heartbeat rhythm in a doll held by the baby or in a pillow. Moreover, the system also gives peace of mind to the parent by transmitting the baby’s heartbeat rhythm to the parent and simulating the transmitted rhythm by means of a portable simulator like a wristwatch. An evaluation experiment is carried out to confirm whether a baby responds well to the heartbeat rhythm of its mother, which is simulated in a pillow, and that the mother can recognize the heartbeat rhythm of her baby by using the portable heartbeat simulator. The results revealed that when a baby is interested in the simulated sound, it prefers the simulated heartbeat rhythm of its mother rather than an artificial heartbeat rhythm with a constant period and the condition that the stimulation stops. Therefore, it is confirmed that the proposed system can give peace of mind to both a baby and its parent.