Previous studies have shown that mindfulness meditation and paced breathing are effective tools for stress management. There are a number of mobile applications currently available that are designed to guide the breath to support these relaxation practices. However, these focus mainly on audio/visual cues and are mostly non-interactive. Our goal is to develop a mobile paced breathing tool focusing on the exploration of haptic cues and biofeedback. We conducted user studies to investigate the effectiveness of the system. This study explores the following questions: Do users prefer control of the breathing rate interval through an on-screen slider (manual mode) or through a physiological sensor (biofeedback mode)? How effective is haptic guidance on its own? And how may the addition of haptic feedback enhance audio-based guidance? Our analysis suggests that while both manual and biofeedback modes are desirable, manual control leads to a greater overall increase in relaxation. Additionally, the findings of this study support the value of haptic guidance in mobile paced breathing tools.
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