Advanced Heart Coherence Application User Guide

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Feedback Parameters
3. Working with the Advanced Heart Coherence Application (User Interface)
4. Thresholds in the Advanced App

Introduction

This guide introduces the Advanced version of the Heart Coherence biofeedback application, part of the Mind-Body Training Tools suite.

The application is much the same as the standard Heart Coherence application. This guide focuses on the differences between the two, and assumes you have already perused the Standard Heart Coherence Application User Guide.

Launching The Application

To launch the application (after starting the platform program) first click on the "Heart Rate Variability" tab, then select the "Heart Coherence (Advanced Version)" application from the drop-down list, then click the button to launch the app.

Feedback Parameters

The Advanced Heart Coherence app has the same input parameters as the standard version, and also the same calculated (feedback) parameters, but has some additional ones making the full list of feedback parameters as follows:

• Heart Coherence Score or Heart Rate Coherence Score (HRCS)
• Heart-Breath Phase Difference (phase lag in seconds between the "heart wave" and the breath)
• Heart Wave Amplitude (in beats per minute; for an explanation of what this means, as well as the above two parameters, see this article describes how MBTT quantifies heart coherence.
• RMSSD - root mean square of successive differences - this is a widely used measure of HRV.
• Breathing Rate
• Inhalation to Exhalation Ratio or I:E Ratio (calculated and displayed but not used for feedback).

Working With The Advanced Heart Coherence Application (User Interface)

The main window of the advanced app is almost exactly the same as the standard app.

TO_DO

Threshold Controls

The thresholds are where you find the major differences between the two versions of the Heart Coherence app. Here is the threshold window for the advanced app:

You see there are five thresholds, three of which are of the more advanced type, having automatic threshold level calculation features. They are for HRCS, Heart Wave Amplitude, and Breathing Rate.

The other two thresholds are of the basic type, and for RMSSD and Heart-Breath Phase Difference.

Nature of Heart Coherence Changes

Once you've gained a moderate level of experience with heart coherence biofeedback training, you'll probably find that you can maintain stable good coherence for periods of time, and then there are interruptions where the coherence score drops off. If you're training coherence in a meditative context, you may notice the losses of coherence correspond to distractions and loss of focus.

Here is an example of such an interruption:

In my personal experience of practising meditation with heart coherence feedback, this is the most common pattern of loss of coherence: in the exhalation phase, the heart rate doesn't go all the way down to the extent that it did in previous breath cycles.

I interpret this in terms of a withdrawal of parasympathetic tone, which is the main driver of the decreases in heart rate. It seems to me this happens when a vaguely unpleasant or stressful distracting thought comes into my mind.

The clearest sign that this has happened is in a sudden drop of the Heart Wave Amplitude parameter. I often use this parameter's threshold-based audio feedback as a way of alerting myself.