Workout MP3 Player Listens To Your Heart

Heart Attack Death Rate Declines Sharply

The Yamaha BODiBEAT is an MP3 player with a uniquely medical twist; it listens to your heartbeat while you're walking or working out and picks music to match your pace.

The device keeps track of the metrics of your workout, like distance, time, pace and yes, heart rate. The operating mode of the BODiBEAT may be selected by the user; each has special features:

Free Free mode lets the device match the music to your exercise pace, choosing those songs that appear to match your own tempo
Fitness The fitness mode allows settings for either walking or jogging; this mode works with the heart monitor to select music to provide aerobic exercise at your fitness level.
Training This mode tells you when to speed up or slow down for optimal results.
Music In the music mode, the BODiBEAT device acts as a regular MP3 player.

You can further structure your sessions with specific exercise time, distance or calorie loss goals.

They're doing a lot with music and human feelings (and other biometric data) these days:

Pimp My Heart EKG Bling This performance art piece amplifies the heart of the driver through a custom car stereo using a Pulse oximeter disguised as a blingin' medallion, yo.
XPod Activity And Emotion Aware Mobile Music Player The XPod project introduces a "smart" music player that learns its user's preferences, emotions and activity, and tailors its music selections accordingly.

Via Yamaha's BODiBEAT.

(This Science Fiction in the News story used with permission of Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction)

Bill Christensen catalogues the inventions, technology and ideas of science fiction writers at his website, Technovelgy. He is a contributor to Live Science.