Higuchi fractal dimension applied to RR intervals during exposure to musical auditory stimulation

Abstract

Several musical genres have been demonstrated to encourage changes in cardiac autonomic modulation. So, we aimed to investigate the acute effects of auditory stimulation with heavy metal music by applying the Higuchi fractal dimension algorithm. The study was performed in 19 healthy women aged between 18 and 30 years old. HRV was analysed during two time phases: the 20-minute period without exposure to music and the 20-minute during exposure to the heavy metal music. The subjects were exposed to one equivalent sound level (approx. 80dB) for 20 minutes. We did not observe significant responses of heart rate and RR intervals — heavy metal musical auditory stimulation decreased the Higuchi fractal dimension median value from 1.9533 (control) to 1.9204 (musical stimulation). In conclusion, the heavy metal music stimulation has been revealed to reduce the complexity of the HRV signal through cardiac autonomic modulation.