What I know
During phase 2 of this project, I researched into how sound is processed by the brain and body, its effects on the mind and how music is able to make us feel thing, stimulate us and impact our mental health. This research can be revisited using this link Music & Sound.
The essential research I gathered was how music can be used for the emotional and physical regulation of our mind and body, our thoughts and our feelings:
Emotional regulation: People crave escapism during times that cause them anxiety and stress Music offers a resource for this. It can energise, maintain focus on a task, and reduce boredom. Emotionally, sad music enables the listener to disengage from the distressing situations (breakup, death, etc.), and focus instead on the beauty of the music. Lyrics that resonate with the listener’s personal experience can give voice to feelings or experiences that one might not be able to express oneself.
Physical Regulation: listening to music can alter your breathing rate, your heart rate, and your blood pressure, depending on the music’s intensity and tempo. Low-frequency waves are linked to “delta” and “theta" states which can boost relaxation and improve sleep. Low frequency sound affects attention, behaviour, emotions, balance and coordination.
What I want to know
How can music and sound be used to evoke a specific response?
What elements of music/sound do we need to ensure our essential experience? How can it be used to lower the heart rate of the player - relax them.
How can we compose our own music to achieve our target response?
I am once again mentioning this resource online, published by UC Berkeley researchers, that maps out 13 emotions that are triggered when we listen to music. This is a really cool and helpful website that gives you examples (some familiar) of songs and musical compositions that trigger a specific emotion in the listener. Some examples include the feelings of triumphant and defiance, dreaminess, defiance and relaxation.
The essential experience of our game is to provide the experience of immersion as a tool for physical and emotional regulation through effective sound design and visuals. We want the player to feel relaxed, at east and inspire them to reflect on what has made them feel overwhelmed or distressed. Therefore the target emotions that we want to trigger within them, to help immerse them into a space where they are able to do this, are feelings of calm, relaxation, serene and also possibly dreaminess.
Some examples presented in this resource for calm, relaxing and serene: