George Khut in collaboration with Dr Angie Morrow, Dr Melissa Yogui Watanabe, Caroline Dale, Dr Angelo Fraietta, Jason McDermott (ARUP), Frank Maguire, and students from UTS Faculty of Engineering & IT ‘Extreme Programming’ workshop

BrightHearts is an interdisciplinary research collaboration between electronic media artist Dr George Khut, and Dr Angie Morrow, a staff specialist at the Kids Rehab Department, of The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, in New South Wales, Australia.

In this exhibition, you are invited to interact with a collection of prototype iPhone and iPad apps that translate changes in your heart rate into colourful geometric artworks, that you can influence with your breath and mental/emotional focus.
The sensors used here are hospital-grade pulse oximeters (PureSAT OEMIII series) produced by Nonin – that we have adapted to transmit wirelessly via Arduino microcontrolers.

The BrightHearts research project is researching the potential of these playful, meditative interactions for the management and reduction of pain and anxiety experienced by children undergoing painful, recurrent clinical procedures as part of their treatment at hospital.

The recurrent nature of these procedures can result in a build-up of anticipatory anxiety, causing significant distress to the children, exacerbating the perceived intensity of the painful stimulus during treatment, and further complicating veinipuncture procedures in cases of extreme vasoconstriction. If left un-addressed, the intense distress and anxiety experienced during these procedures can lead to avoidance behaviors that may stay with an individual into adulthood.

Currently in its preliminary design-research phase, the next stage of the project will involve a pilot study followed by a clinical trial that will assess the effectiveness and impact of these interactions compared to standard iPad-based pain and anxiety management distraction methods.

The BrightHearts project was initiated by Angie after a chance meeting with George at an “Art-Science Speed Dating” event, hosted by the Powerhouse Museum in 2010. Research team members include Dr Melissa Yogui-Watanabe (research assistant), Caroline Dale (qualitative researcher), Dr Angelo Fraietta (electronics and software), Jason McDermott (visualisation software) and Frank Maguire (electronics and industrial design), and fourth-year students from the UTS Faculty of Engineering and IT, “Extreme Programming” workshop (heart rate analysis software).

The project has received funding from James Kirby Foundation (medical grant for design and clinical trials) and the Australian Network for Art and Technology and the Australia Council for the Arts (2011 Synapse artists residency grant). This project has been supported by the UTS Faculty of Engineering & IT: Interaction Design & Human Practices (IDHuP) Lab, and Creativity & Cognition Studio (CCS), and UTS School of Design Interactivation Studio.