Show HN: Live breath detection and biofeedback from a phone microphone
20 points
8 hours ago
| 3 comments
| github.com
| HN
Hi everyone, I am Felix, a famliy doctor from ZH, Switzerland. A couple of month ago I started this little project called shii • haa, a breathing app that uses the phone`s microphone for live biofeedback

My prior work in emergency medicine and intensive care was closesly linked to breathing, mostly in critical situations... and let me to reevaluate my own way of breathing. over time one question popped into my mind: can medical knowledge and biofeedback make an app actually promote self-awareness instead of attaching your goals to the award system of the app.

it combines signal processing, a breathing state machine and ML. The state machine follows inhale, exhale and transitions in the mic signal. A quality layer rejects noisy or ambiguous windows before signals are used for feedback. All processing is done on-device, no speech or raw audio is uploaded.

What I'm trying to avoid is turning breathing into another score or game. The app gives feedback on rhythm, depth and regularity, but the point is more "notice what you are doing" than "perform well".

I'd be interested in feedback, especially from people who have worked on signal processing, health UX, or Android/iOS audio issues.

maartenh
3 hours ago
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Sounds interesting. Unfortunately not available in my country in the Android app store. I live in The Netherlands. If you're looking for feedback, you might want to double check this :)
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felixzeller
2 hours ago
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You are absolutely right. Android is currently only released in DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein), iOS has wider availability. I was a little anxious about full exposure… Netherlands is on top of my list for Android
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ncr100
1 hour ago
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OT did GitHub change their default fonts? This MD file shows up "differently" than I am used to, today.
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muhammadusman
3 hours ago
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can you please review login requirement?
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felixzeller
3 hours ago
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Honest answer: it is a commercial app with a 14 day free trial and the login is tied to that. No deeper technical reason. I understand that this is annoying when you just want to try it. I will think about a local-only mode… Thanks for the question.
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monk_grilla
2 hours ago
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In the README it says

> Do I need an account to try it? Not for the core breathing biofeedback; that works without creating one. Some surrounding features in the app use an account; the part this repo is about does not.

I downloaded the app based on this, but you can’t use it at all without creating an account. Please review your AI’s output.

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felixzeller
2 hours ago
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You are absolutely right and I am sorry. The README is misleading. The core detection runs without an account in the code, but in the published app you currently can not reach it without signing up. README is corrected and I look at adding a guest mode. Thanks for catching this.
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OsrsNeedsf2P
2 hours ago
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Appreciate the directness, but pro-tip from an ex-mobile dev; you'll convert way better with IAP subscriptions rather than your own account system
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felixzeller
2 hours ago
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Thanks, that is actually really useful. I chose the account system because I had it from the web side, but I see your point. Will think it through properly.
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