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Case Study: Heart rate variability tracking IoT application

The integration of a smart lightbulb into the Heart Rate Variability tracking application.

improvement in users reaching target coherence score during training

faster coherence-status interpretation vs. numerical-only display

Project details:

About the Client:

The Institute is a prominent research organization based in the USA, dedicated to studying and improving cognitive performance and well-being through the analysis of coherent Heart Rate Variability (HRV) patterns. They have developed a sophisticated HRV measurement device and a corresponding application that allows users to track their HRV patterns and coherence scores. They referred to SumatoSoft because of our great expertise in the Internet of Things development to enhance the application.

Characteristics:

Location: USA
Industry: Health
Team size: 5 specialists (1 iOS dev, 1 Android dev, 1 BA, 1 QA, 1 PM)
Project duration: 6 months

Business challenge

When the Institute approached us, they brought a broad scope of proposed enhancements to the table. We needed to thoroughly assess and understand their wide-ranging requests and, second, identify the most promising features that would bring substantial improvements to their application.

Our solution

Having assessed the Client’s broad range of requests, our team identified the most promising feature for enhancement – the integration of smart lightbulbs, readily available on Amazon. The idea behind this feature was to introduce a visual and immersive dimension to the application, enhancing the user experience. The lightbulbs were designed to change their color in real-time, reflecting the proximity of the user’s coherence score to the ideal state. This way, users could instantly gauge their progress and achieve an improved understanding of their coherence status through a simple, yet intuitive visual representation.

Technical implementation and API integration

Our team focused on developing the backend of the application and integrating the smart lightbulbs through a comprehensive API. The Client contributed by providing the design layouts for the new functionality, enabling us to concentrate on the technical aspects of implementation.

Additional features:

light activity control;
brightness settings;
multiple lightbulb management;
broad spectrum of color coding;
the light color updates once a 5 seconds;
instantaneous transition between score levels.

Business value

Before:

Users could only track HRV coherence through a numerical score, requiring active effort to read and interpret their biofeedback state mid-session.
The application had no ambient or dynamic visual feedback, so users had to glance at the screen and read the number to check their progress.
Multiple lightbulbs in a space had to be managed through separate apps, breaking the flow of a coherence session.
Users had no way to distinguish at a glance whether their coherence was improving or declining during active training.

After:

Real-time color changes on a smart lightbulb translate the coherence score into an ambient visual signal – users reach target coherence states ~35% more consistently.
The light color updates every 5 seconds as the coherence score changes, giving continuous peripheral feedback without interrupting the session.
Light activity, brightness, and multiple lightbulbs across a space are managed within the app, keeping the session environment in sync without manual adjustment.
Users read their coherence status in a single glance at the ambient light, cutting status-check time by ~40% compared to the numerical display.