Music is often studied in terms of its artistic value and expressiveness. While these are important characteristics, there are other observations we can make of scientific value, such as the effects of music on the human anatomy. At present, however, there is a general lack of scientific studies focusing on the effect music makes on specific physiological responses in the body. A limited range of these studies has included examinations of music preferences and correlating personality characteristics of participants, while some others have investigated the effects of music lessons on intelligence. While the previously mentioned research has contributed to some scientific understanding with regard to human physiology, it has not addressed how specific physiological processes of the human body responds to music. Through my own research, I hope to add to the body of musical research and health sciences, and help to close the gap between these two fields. In this study, one selection from a pool of five audio examples of different musical genres will be played to participants while their heart rate is monitored with a wrist-worn device in order to gauge possible differences in heart rate that might occur as they experience music. This assessment will also be paired with a self-perceived mood questionnaire by my participants in order to identify any correlations between the two. After my data collection is complete, I will statistically analyze the information and examine any parallels between the musical selections, genre, heart rate, and self-perceived mood. By analyzing this data, I hope to gain insight into possible human physiological responses as the subjects are exposed to different musical examples from various genres. I also hope to investigate the psychological realm of music, and determine its practical use in the medical field with regard to music therapy, which can lead to various treatments in post-traumatic stress disorder, and communicative diseases.

The focus of this thesis is to study the way that adaptive audio can be used in digital games and how it can be used to portray different moods to the listener, how games can reflect different feelings and how quickly those feelings can change. Games audio environment is significant to be able to adapt to the ever changing narrative of the game. The purpose is to gain insight in how immersion in digital games can be improved with the use of adaptive audio ­ to study if there’s an easy way to implement a system where audio can be mixed and adjusted in real­time to mirror the events in the game and project accurate feelings. To study this we will create a parameter based system in the sound engine of the game we will make during the production phase, with different parameters based on a number of different factors . Keywords: Adaptive Audio, Parameter System, Mood Music, Digital Games, Game Production Syftet med detta kandidatarbete är att studera hur adaptiva ljud kan användas i digitala spel, hur de kan användas för att beskriva olika stämningar till lyssnaren, och hur spel kan spegla olika känslor och hur snabbt dessa känslor kan förändras. Det är viktigt att ett spels ljudmiljö kan anpassa sig till den ständigt föränderliga berättelsen i spelet. Syftet är att få en inblick i hur immersion i digitala spel kan förbättras med användning av adaptiva ljud ­ att studera om det finns ett enkelt sätt att implementera ett system där ljudet kan mixas och anpassas i realtid för att spegla händelserna i spelet och återskapa äkta känslor. För att undersöka detta kommer vi skapa ett parameterbaserat system i ljudmotorn till spelet som vi kommer göra under produktionsfasen, med olika parameterar som är baserade på ett antal olika faktorer. Nyckelord: Adaptivt Ljud, Parametersystem, Stämningsmusik, Digitala Spel, Spelproduktion. / Ett arbete som tar upp hur man kan få immersionen i digitala spel att förbättras med användning av adaptivt ljud och musik för att spegla narrativet. / Pontus Stensgaard: 0769123182 pontus.stensgaard@gmail.com