AmbiTune: Bringing Context-Awareness to Music Playlists while Driving

Abstract

The usage of online music content and mobile devices is becoming more and more a part of our daily lives. In recent years, research on contextual music recommendation has emerged and new services have been introduced. Driving is one of the most common listening situations. It differs from other listening situations in that the main focus is on driving, which means the mental load is higher. The scenario of listening to music while driving has been neglected in past research and is therefore reflected by the limited integration of textual music adaptation in car radios or infotainment systems. This paper presents the results of a preliminary study involving a driving simulator created to analyze the effects of various types of music on subjects while driving. As the results of the subjective measure show, there is a strong influence on the mental load of participants listening to fast-paced music while driving. According to these findings, a first prototype of an application was implemented allowing the driver to adjust the music selection with respect to the mental load as well as personal preference. This application uses contextual parameters and performs as a research prototype for future real-driving studies.