Music verification system, music verification program, and music provision system

Abstract

To provide a system for generating and distributing stress-reducing music contributing to the stress reduction of animals.SOLUTION: A music provision system 10 is for verifying a stress reduction effect of an animal to predetermined music and includes a music verification unit 11 for verifying a stress reduction effect of a dog to the music. The music verification unit 11 includes a determination unit 18 that determines the presence or absence of a stress reduction effect on the basis of a measurement value of a stress marker composed of a substance secreted from an animal in response to stress. The determination unit 18 determines the presence or absence of the stress reduction effect under a condition in which a stress change factor other than music is excluded from a tendency of a temporal change in a measurement value of a stress marker including a time zone in which an animal is caused to listen to music and time zones before and after the time zone, with respect to a music element constituting the music.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a music verification system, a music verification program, and a music provision system, and more specifically, to a music verification system, a music verification program, and a music provision system for searching for musical elements that have a stress-reducing effect on animals from specified music, and generating music for reducing stress in animals based on the musical elements. [Background technology]

[0002] Stress in dogs kept as pets is caused by various circumstances, such as the relationship with the owner and the environment in which they are kept, and it has a negative impact on the health and behavior of the dog. In particular, separation anxiety causes various problematic behaviors, such as barking for long periods of time due to stress when the owner is out of sight, and has become an even greater social problem due to the demand for pets during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent movement away from COVID-19.

[0003] Incidentally, Patent Document 1 discloses a music providing system that controls the behavioral state of a pet, for example, by playing music to calm a dog that is barking continuously. In this music providing system, a detection device for detecting the motion state, such as an acceleration sensor, is attached to a target animal such as a pet, and the current behavioral state of the target animal is estimated based on the detection result, and appropriate music is extracted to change the current behavioral state to a predetermined target behavioral state and provided to the target animal. In other words, in this music providing system, while the actual state of the animal is sensed by the detection device, pre-stored music is selected and provided to the target animal based on the degree of deviation of the current behavioral state from the target behavioral state. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-10666 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, the music provided by the music provision system of Patent Document 1 is not directly intended to reduce stress in animals such as dogs, and its effectiveness has not been verified, so it cannot necessarily be said to have the effect of reducing stress in animals such as dogs.

[0006] The present invention was devised with an eye on such problems, and its purpose is to provide a music verification system, a music verification program, and a music provision system for generating and distributing stress-reducing music that contributes to reducing stress in animals. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is primarily a system for verifying the stress reduction effect of specified music on an animal, and is equipped with a judgment unit which judges whether or not there is a stress reduction effect based on the measurement value of a stress marker consisting of a substance secreted by an animal in response to stress, and the judgment unit is configured to judge whether or not there is a stress reduction effect for the musical elements which make up the music, based on the tendency of change over time in the measurement value of the stress marker during the period when the music is played to the animal, including the period before and after that, under conditions which exclude stress change factors other than the music.

[0008] In the present claims and this specification, the term "animal" is used as a general concept to refer to various animals including humans. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to generate and provide music for stress reduction with a relaxing effect based on music elements having a stress-reducing effect that have been found based on verification of the stress-reducing effect, or music elements based on the latest research results. Furthermore, by previously associating the emotions of animals with music elements having a stress-reducing effect, it is possible to provide music for stress reduction that is adapted to the emotions of animals, thereby further improving the stress-reducing effect of animals. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a music providing system for reducing stress in animals according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a time series when a pre-experiment was conducted. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0012] A schematic diagram of a music providing system for reducing stress in dogs according to this embodiment is shown in Fig. 1. In this diagram, the music providing system 10 includes a computer including a processor such as a CPU and storage devices such as a memory and a hard disk, and has installed therein programs for causing the computer to function as each of the following units.

[0013] This music providing system 10 includes a music verification unit 11 that verifies the stress reduction effect of a specified verification music on a dog, an emotion detection unit 12 that detects the animal's emotions based on the dog's facial expression before the dog is played the verification music, a memory unit 13 that stores information corresponding to the verification results of the music verification unit 11 and the detection results of the emotion detection unit 12, a music generation unit 14 that generates stress reduction music to reduce the dog's stress based on the information from the memory unit 13, and a distribution unit 15 that distributes the stress reduction music generated by the music generation unit 14 in response to a user request.

[0014] The music verification unit 11 functions as a music verification system that verifies the stress reduction effect of the dog on the verification music based on the results of a preliminary experiment in which a dog is made to listen to any verification music that is generally assumed to have a relaxing effect, and the numerical value of a stress marker consisting of a substance secreted by the dog in response to stress is measured in advance. The verification music is not particularly limited, but examples thereof include classical music, 528 Hz music, natural sounds, the owner's voice, etc.

[0015] Cortisol and α-amylase contained in the dog's saliva are targeted as stress markers serving as physiological indicators of stress in dogs, and the amounts of cortisol and α-amylase contained in the saliva are measured using known measuring devices, etc. Here, the dog's saliva is collected in a first phase, which is a pre-period for accustoming the dog to the experimental environment before playing the test music to the dog, a second phase, which is a central period during which the dog is playing the test music to the dog, and a third phase, which is a post-period during which the dog is allowed to remain in the experimental environment after playing the test music to the dog, and the amounts of the stress markers are measured in each phase.

[0016] An example of the procedure of the preliminary experiment will be described below with reference to FIG.

[0017] The dog is brought into a test space equipped with speakers that emit the test music, and in order to eliminate the effects of the change in environment caused by the dog moving into the test space, the dog is put into a familiarization state for about 30 minutes without listening to the test music in the first phase F1. After that, in the second phase F2, the test music is turned ON and the dog is allowed to listen to the test music for about 30 minutes. After that, the test music is turned OFF, and the dog is allowed to remain in the test space for about 30 minutes in the third phase F3 to accurately verify the stress reduction effect of the test music.

[0018] Here, the dog's saliva is collected at a predetermined timing in each of the first, second, and third phases F1 to F3. Specifically, although not particularly limited, in the first phase F1, the collection is conducted twice: at time t1 (e.g., 15 minutes before the music is turned on) before the dog is made to listen to music, and at time t2 when the music starts to be played to the dog. In the second phase F2, the collection is conducted twice: at times t3 and t4 (e.g., 15 minutes and 30 minutes after the music is turned on) after the dog starts to listen to music. In the third phase F3, the collection is conducted twice: at times t5 and t6 (e.g., 15 minutes and 30 minutes after the music is turned off) after the dog has finished listening to music.

[0019] The amounts of cortisol and α-amylase obtained from the dog's saliva collected at these times are measured at each of the times t1 to t6, and the preliminary experiment is then completed.

[0020] As shown in FIG. 1, the music verification section 11 includes an input section 17 for inputting predetermined information, and a determination section 18 for determining the presence or absence of a stress reducing effect based on the measured value of the stress marker.

[0021] Information including musical elements of the verification music used in the preliminary experiment and the measured values ​​of cortisol and α-amylase measured from the dog's saliva collected in each of phases F1 to F3 of the preliminary experiment are input to the input unit 17 through a known input device (not shown) for a computer. Note that musical elements include rhythm, melody, harmony, pitch, volume, tone color, repetitive elements, frequency, etc.

[0022] The judgment unit 18 judges whether or not the musical elements constituting the verification music have a stress reducing effect based on the tendency of the time series changes (changes over time) in the measured values ​​of the stress marker in the first to third phases F1 to F3, under conditions excluding stress change factors other than the verification music.

[0023] Here, cortisol is more sensitive to changes in psychological stress than α-amylase, and is known to be superior to α-amylase in determining whether music has a relaxing effect. On the other hand, α-amylase has a higher response to verification results than cortisol, and even when a sufficient amount of saliva cannot be collected to measure cortisol, it may be possible to determine the relaxing effect using only α-amylase.

[0024] As described above, in the judgment unit 18, if the states of change over time of the measured values ​​of cortisol and α-amylase in each of the phases F1 to F3 show the same tendency, the presence or absence of a stress reducing effect is judged in the following procedure, whereas if the states of change over time do not show the same tendency, the presence or absence of a stress reducing effect is not judged. Also, if cortisol cannot be measured, the presence or absence of a stress reducing effect is judged in the following procedure based on the measurement result of α-amylase.

[0025] In this judgment unit 18, depending on the change over time in the measurement value of the stress marker in each of phases F1 to F3, the musical elements that make up the verification music played in the second phase F2 are judged as to whether or not they have an effect of reducing stress for the dog, as follows.

[0026] First, in order to eliminate the influence of stress due to environmental changes in the first phase, if the measured value of the stress marker increases over time from time t1 in the first phase F1 to time t2 after time t1, it is determined that the dog's stress due to the environmental change has increased, and the stress reduction effect is not judged. Also, if the measured value of the stress marker at each of times t3 and t4 in the second phase F2 is higher than the measured value of the stress marker at each of times t1 and t2 in the first phase F1, the stress reduction effect is not judged. And if the measured value of the stress marker at each of times t3 and t4 in the second phase F2 is both lower than the measured value of the stress marker at each of times t1 and t2 in the first phase, it is determined to be a candidate for a music element having a stress reduction effect on dogs.

[0027] Next, for the candidates for music elements having the stress reducing effect described above, the presence or absence of the stress reducing effect is determined based on the stress marker measurement results in the third phase F3, as follows.

[0028] First, if the measured value of the stress marker at each time t5 and t6 of the third phase F3 increases over time with respect to each time t3 and t4 of the second phase, the music element is determined to have a stress reducing effect on the dog. Also, if the measured value of the stress marker at the first time t5 of the third phase F3 is higher than the measured value at each time t3 and t4 of the second phase F2, the music element is determined to have a high stress reducing effect. Furthermore, if the measured value of the stress marker at the first time t5 of the third phase F3 is not changed from the measured value at each time t3 and t4 of the second phase F2, but at a later time t6 of the third phase F3, the measured value of the stress marker increases from the measured value at each time t3 and t4 of the second phase F2, it is determined that the music element does not include any unpleasant elements for the dog, although it is necessary to consider other factors such as the behavioral psychology of the dog. On the other hand, if the measured value of any stress marker at times t5 and t6 in the third phase F3 is decreased compared to times t3 and t4 in the second phase F2, it is considered that the stress has decreased due to other factors such as the surrounding environment, and it is determined that the music element in question has no stress reducing effect. Also, if there is no change in the measured value of the stress marker between times t3 and t4 in the second phase F2 and times t5 and t6 in the third phase F3, it is determined that the music element in question has no stress reducing effect.

[0029] When judging the change in the measured value of the stress marker at each of the times t1 to t6, it is advisable to take into consideration measurement error and the like and judge whether the value is increased, decreased, or the same as a preset allowable range.

[0030] During the preliminary experiment, the emotion detection unit 12 captures a facial image of the dog when it enters the test space using a camera (not shown) installed in the test space, and estimates the dog's emotion from the facial image captured in the test space using a known AI model based on learning data that matches the dog's emotions (anger, joy, sadness, etc.) with the facial image.

[0031] The memory unit 13 stores musical elements that are determined to have a stress reducing effect based on the stress marker measurement values ​​in the pre-experiments that are successively performed, in association with the emotion of the dog at the start of the pre-experiments. Note that it is also possible to successively add to the memory unit 13 musical elements that have been found in the latest research regarding the presence or absence of a stress reducing effect in dogs, in association with the emotion of the target dog, without performing a pre-experiment.

[0032] The music generation unit 14 uses existing music composition software or the like to generate and store new music from various genres of music stored in advance in the memory unit 13, while retaining musical elements that have a stress-reducing effect on dogs, or combining them as appropriate.

[0033] In the distribution unit 15, by inputting the current emotions of the dog as seen by the owner, etc., music for reducing stress in the dog that matches the emotions is extracted from the music generation unit 14, and the stress-reducing music is provided to an environment where the dog can listen to music, such as a terminal such as a mobile phone owned by the owner or the space where the dog is present, via a known communication system such as the Internet or wireless communication.

[0034] In the above embodiment of the music providing system 10, dogs have been described as the target animals to which stress-relieving music is provided, but the present invention is not limited to this and can also be applied to pets such as cats, rabbits, birds, etc., livestock such as cows, horses, pigs, chickens, etc., animals in zoos, humans, etc.

[0035] In addition, in the above embodiment, cortisol and α-amylase are used as stress markers, but it is also possible to use only one of them, or in combination with or in place of them, other secretory substances from animals that serve as physiological indicators whose values ​​change in response to changes in stress.

[0036] Additionally, the configuration of each part of the device in the present invention is not limited to the illustrated configuration example, and various modifications are possible as long as they provide substantially the same effect. [Explanation of symbols]

[0037] 10 Music provision system 11 Music Verification Department (Music Verification System) 12 Emotion detection section 13 Storage section 14 Music Generation Section 15 Distribution Department 18 Judgment section F1 First Phase (Pre-race period) F2 Second Phase (Central Time Zone) F3 Third Phase (Post-event Time)

Claims

1. A system for verifying the stress-reducing effect of a predetermined piece of music on an animal, comprising: a determination unit that determines whether or not the stress reducing effect is present based on a measured value of a stress marker that is a substance secreted by an animal in response to stress, The music verification system is characterized in that the judgment unit judges whether or not the music has a stress reducing effect based on the tendency of the change over time in the measurement value of the stress marker for the musical elements that make up the music, including the time period when the music is played to the animal and the time periods before and after it, under conditions that exclude stress change factors other than the music.

2. The music verification system of claim 1, characterized in that the judgment unit judges that the stress reduction effect is present if the measurement value in a central time period, which is a time period during which the music is played to the animal, is lower than the measurement value in the pre-time period preceding that, and if the measurement value in a post-time period following the central time period increases over time compared to the measurement value in the central time period.

3. The music verification system of claim 1, characterized in that the judgment unit judges that there is no stress reduction effect if the measurement value does not change between a central time period, in which the music is played to the animal, and a subsequent post-time period, or if there is a time during the post-time period when the measurement value is lower than in the central time period.

4. The music verification system of claim 1, characterized in that the judgment unit does not judge whether or not the stress reduction effect is present if the measurement value during the central time period, which is the time period during which the music is played to the animal, is higher than the measurement value during the previous advance time period, or if the measurement value increases over time during the advance time period.

5. the stress markers are cortisol and α-amylase; The music verification system described in claim 1, characterized in that the judgment unit judges whether or not the stress reduction effect is present when the changes over time in the measured values ​​of cortisol and α-amylase show the same tendency, or when at least the measured value of α-amylase is known.

6. A program for causing a computer to function to verify the stress-reducing effect of a predetermined piece of music on an animal, comprising: making the program function as a determination unit that determines whether or not the stress reducing effect is present based on a measured value of a stress marker consisting of a substance secreted by an animal in response to stress; The music verification program is characterized in that the judgment unit judges whether or not the music has a stress reducing effect based on the tendency of the change over time in the measurement value of the stress marker for the musical elements that make up the music, including the time period when the music is played to the animal and the time periods before and after the change, under conditions that exclude stress change factors other than the music.

7. A system including the music verification system of claim 1, the system providing music for stress reduction for reducing stress in an animal based on a verification result of the music verification system, A music providing system comprising: a memory unit that stores the music elements determined to have the stress-reducing effect; and a music generation unit that generates the stress-reducing music based on the music elements.

8. 8. The music providing system according to claim 7, further comprising a distribution unit that distributes the stress-relieving music generated by the music generation unit in response to a request from a user.

9. an emotion detection unit that detects an emotion of the animal based on a facial expression of the animal before the animal plays the music; the memory unit stores the emotions detected by the emotion detection unit in association with the music elements determined to have the stress reducing effect, 8. The music providing system according to claim 7, wherein said music generating section generates said stress-relieving music in accordance with an emotion of the animal.

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