Mindfield eSense User manual

MANUAL
User Manual | Biofeedback-training | eSense-App | Finger Clip
Version 3.0 | 10.11.2017

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Contents
Contents..................................................................................................................... 2
Delivery contents........................................................................................................ 3
Skin temperature in general........................................................................................ 4
Skin temperature and biofeedback training ................................................................ 5
Process of a training................................................................................................... 5
First stage (observe and experiment, determine your initial status) ........................ 6
Second stage (biofeedback training with the temperature feedback)...................... 7
Third stage (transfer, relaxation without feedback).................................................. 7
Fourth stage (deliberate provocation, relaxation and stress coping)....................... 8
Functions of the free eSense Temperature App......................................................... 9
General View........................................................................................................... 9
Set up of animation ............................................................................................... 11
Configuration of auditory feedback........................................................................ 13
Export and forward of measured values................................................................ 14
Important note regarding iOS................................................................................ 14
Functions of the eSense Universal App.................................................................... 15
General view ......................................................................................................... 15
Settings (Overview)............................................................................................... 16
Tone Feedback ..................................................................................................... 18
Tactile Feedback................................................................................................... 19
New: Procedures................................................................................................... 19
Overview of the modules....................................................................................... 22
Export and forward of measured values................................................................ 23

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Supported devices; Android...................................................................................... 25
Supported devices iOS............................................................................................. 25
Options for fixation of sensor.................................................................................... 27
Holding.................................................................................................................. 27
Leukosilk (medical tape)........................................................................................ 27
Finger Clip............................................................................................................. 28
Extending the cord of the eSense............................................................................. 28
EC Declaration of Conformity for the Mindfield eSense............................................ 29
Contact..................................................................................................................... 30
Your Notes................................................................................................................ 30
Delivery contents
Mindfield® eSense Temperature Sensor
1 Velcro electrodes
Free App from Mindfield (from the App Store or Google Play)
Detailed instruction for efficient biofeedback training

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Skin temperature in general
The temperature at the surface of the skin changes according to blood circulation
through body tissue. The small blood vessels (arterioles) crossing through the tissue
are surrounded by fibers of smooth muscle, which are controlled by the sympathetic
nervous system.
In a state of increased exertion, excitement and stress, these muscle fibers contract,
causing a stenosis of vasculature. This leads to a reduction of skin temperature,
since blood circulation through the tissue is reduced. In contrast, in a state of
relaxation, the musculature is also bound to relax, causing the vasculature to expand.
Hence, the skin temperature rises.
Mental stress often leads to a lower peripheral perfusion and a decrease of skin
temperature at the hands, caused by increased activity of the sympathetic nervous
system. From an evolutionary point of view, this stress reaction serves to prepare us
for “fight or flight” in a physically threatening environment, because the maximum
amount of blood is concentrated in the working muscles.
We usually know those situations from our own lives as well. Think for example of a
speech that you gave in front of an audience or a job interview. If in those situations
you were excited, can you remember the cold (and sweaty) hands?
This physiological stress reaction can be useless or harmful in many contexts in
modern society (e. g. mental exertion, worries, psychosocial stress, anxiety disorder).
A conscious control of physiological stress can help you to react in a more relaxed
and efficient manner to many situations. Biofeedback is an established way to learn
this kind of control!

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Skin temperature and biofeedback training
Biofeedback with skin temperature is mainly applied in relaxation exercises. It’s easy
to handle, and easy to learn. Experience with this technique shows a high rate of
success and improvement of subjective well-being. If you suffer from a serious
disorder or medical condition, always consult a professional physician or therapist,
and do not attempt a treatment on your own. Biofeedback training is not an officially
recognized medical procedure. Hence the eSense Temperature is not a medical
device and may only be used for stress reduction training.
A particularly easy and effective biofeedback method is hand warming training. It
works with the eSense Temperature sensor attached to a finger, or simply held
between thumb and index. You will learn through direct feedback to intentionally
raise the temperature of your fingers, thus increasing perfusion in your hands.
The biological temperature sensors in our hands give us only a coarse impression of
our skin temperature. The real-time feedback of the eSense Sensor will give you way
more exact information on the perfusion and temperature of your hands, enabling
you to learn conscious control of these parameters and your relaxed well-being.
The goal of the hand warming training is to get a feeling for the own skin temperature
and hence to get a direct control over the blood circulation in the outer limbs. A
biofeedback training consists of 4 training stages. For the first training, schedule
about 60 to 90 minutes of free time in which you can conduct the training undisturbed
and at a stretch. Hereafter you find an example sequence of a stress relief training.
Process of a training
1. A quiet, comfortably tempered room without phones and other sources of
distraction, and convenient seating and clothing are the conditions we need for
successful training. As skin temperature depends also on ambient
temperature, you should try to perform each training session under similar
ambient conditions.
2. Use the accompanying tape (or a fabric tape of your choice) to attach the
temperature sensor to your index or middle finger. Plastic tape works as well,
although it’s less comfortable because it’s airtight and can make your fingers
perspire.

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3. You should get accustomed to the ambient temperature for at least 5 minutes,
letting the training start while your body is in a steady state. This phase of
acclimatization can already raise your hand temperature by several degrees.
First stage (observe and experiment, determine your initial status)
1. In comparison with other biofeedback techniques, you will need fewer
sessions for a reliable success. 6-10 sessions should be sufficient. In order to
keep focused throughout the entire session you should limit session length to
about 15 minutes. If you start feeling tired while training, you should shorten
your sessions and practice more often instead.
2. You should record your baseline state for 2-3 minutes at the beginning of each
session, letting the sensor temperature adapt to your finger. Sitting upright and
comfortable, do not watch the temperature but simply let the device measure.
Sensor temperature will become relatively stable, and the training itself can
begin.
3. In your first session, take 10 minutes to relax consciously as best as you can
without watching the temperature feedback. This part is about determining
whether simple relaxation without feedback can raise your skin temperature.
4. Take a look at the measurements. Did conscious relaxation already raise the
temperature? No matter if it happened or not, get accustomed to the feedback
function of the application now. Watch the temperature feedback and see if
you can exert conscious influence on it! This exercise marks the end of the
first stage. Keep in mind that your daily condition can affect the measurement.

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You can send the measured values to your email address using the
respective function of the application.
Second stage (biofeedback training with the temperature feedback)
1. Before embarking upon the next session, try to be aware of your hand’s
temperature during everyday activities. Do your hands feel particularly warm
or particularly cold in certain situations? These observations can be very
helpful for the exercises to come.
2. The second stage consists of multiple sessions. These sessions should
always follow the following scheme. Start every session with a 2-3 minute
baseline measurement without watching the values in order to reach a steady
state.
3. Now you can start to train conscious relaxation, using the feedback signal.
Watch the temperature values while relaxing and try to find ways to bring them
up. It can be helpful to imagine yourself lying in the sun, relaxing in a sauna, or
putting your hands into warm water. You can also work with autosuggestion
techniques, telling yourself sentences like “My left hand feels warm…it feels
even warmer now…”. Feel free to experiment.
As with every activity, regular practice is the key to success. You should be able to
raise your skin temperature by several degrees, unless your baseline is already at
33-34 °C / 91-93 °F. The colder your hands are in the first place, the more potential
you have to raise their temperature. In principle, you can achieve more than 36 °C /
97 °F in your hands, a temperature normally reserved to your body core.
Third stage (transfer, relaxation without feedback)
1. Now you can check if a state of deepened relaxation, and the corresponding
rise in skin temperature, can already be achieved without feedback. After
measuring the baseline as usual, you should alternate between watching and
not watching the feedback, two minutes each way. The longer and more often
you can keep the temperature up without the feedback, the better your self-
control has already become.
2. Perform multiple sessions in third stage. When you can keep you skin
temperature up for a prolonged time and mainly without feedback, you have
successfully completed this stage.

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Fourth stage (deliberate provocation, relaxation and stress coping)
1. Finally, you should check if you have acquired improved stress resilience.
Start a session with the baseline as usual, then keep your skin temperature on
elevated levels (well above 30°C / 86°F) for a couple of minutes.
2. Try to bring yourself into a strenuous situation. You can recall previously
memorized everyday situations in which you tend to have cold hands, or
situations that have caused tension and anger. You can also move to a
stressful environment, or ask another person to exert a stressful stimulus upon
you. Keep the stress situation short and do not overload your ability to cope
with it.
3. If you can sustain elevated levels of skin temperature during strenuous
situations, ideally at levels above your personal maximum in the first stage,
you have learned to remain relaxed and calm even in difficult and stressful
situations. You have fully reached the goal of hand warming training!

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Functions of the free eSense Temperature App
General View
Moveable
training
thresholds for
the color
gradient (hot
to cold)
Momentary
temperature
value
Temperature
scale(°C or
°F)
Display on iPhone® in vertical format
Start and stop of the
recording process
Indicator for rising or
falling values
Time elapsed
Momentary value
Overall minimum
Overall maximum
Difference between
minimum and
maximum
Last 60 second’s
average value
Instructions and help
Same values
like in vertical
format
Moveable
training
thresholds for
the color
gradient (hot
to cold)
Display on iPhone® in horizontal format
Start and stop of the
recording
Indicator for rising or
falling values
Time scale in
seconds

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Moveable
training
thresholds for
the color
gradient (hot
to cold)
Momentary
temperature
value
Temperature
scale(°C or
°F)
Display on Android™in vertical format
Start and stop of the
recording process
Indicator for rising or
falling values
Time elapsed
Momentary value
Overall minimum
Overall maximum
Difference between
minimum and
maximum
Last 60 second’s
average value
Instructions and help
Same values
like in vertical
format
Moveable
training
thresholds for
the color
gradient (hot
to cold)
Display on Android™in horizontal format
Indicator for rising or
falling values
Start and stop of the
recording
Time scale in
seconds

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Set up of animation
Display on iPhone®
Display on iPhone®
Display on Android™
Sweep your finger over the display to
change between the horizontal
format and the animation.
Double tap on the animation to
maximize it.
Move two fingers together (“pinch”)
to shrink the animation to original
size!
Rising temperatures keep the
animation going, while falling
temperatures stop it.
You want to raise your skin
temperature, so keep the animation
going!
Tap on Custom Video to choose your
own video, an on Default Video to
return to the standard video!

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When using iOS, your custom video must be in the "Camera Roll."
Here's how you add a video to it:
1. Send the video to yourself in an e-mail.
2. Open the e-mail in the Mail app.
3. Download the video.
4. Click and hold the video and select "Save to Camera Roll."
5. Now you can select the video from within the eSense app.
A list of supported video formats for iOS can be found here:
http://www.apple.com/de/iphone/specs.html
When using Android, your video must be in the "Gallery."
Here's how you add a video:
1. Send the video to yourself in an e-mail.
2. Open the e-mail in the Mail app.
3. The video will be shown as an attachment. Click the dots on the right edge of the
attachment and select "save."
4. The video is now in the Gallery and can be loaded by eSense.
As an alternative, you can use Dropbox:
1. Move the video into your Dropbox.
2. Select the video from the Dropbox and export it onto the SD card in the "Movies"
folder (in the Gallery).
A list of supported video formats for Android can be found here:
http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.html

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Configuration of auditory feedback
Display on iPhone®
Display on Android™
Display on iPhone®
Audible Feedback on/off
You can always hear sounds from
other Apps in the background.
Volume for negative Feedback
When values move in the wrong
direction, the sound becomes quieter:
0% = mute
100% = undiminished volume
Feedback Direction
Decide if rising (“raise”) or falling
(“lower”) values should count as
success for the feedback.
Choose Song
Please choose any Audio file.
Feedback Response Time
Adjust how sensitive and quick the
feedback will react to a changing
direction (rising or falling) of the
values.

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Export and forward of measured values
Display on iPhone®
Display on Android™
After stopping a recording, you can
transfer the measured values via e-
mail (in iOS, you need an email
account for this function).
5 values per second are saved to a
CSV file where every line indicates
one value, so 5 lines correspond to
one second of measurement.
Click on “Submit values”to send a
CSV (comma separated value) file to
your personal or any other email.
The file can be processed in
Microsoft Excel™or Open Office.
Important note regarding iOS
The free eSense iOS app is not supported by iOS 11 anymore. Please use the new
universal app instead under iOS 11.

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Functions of the eSense Universal App
The eSense Universal App supplements both the free eSense Apps with additional
functions. The settings are all combined in one menu. The Mindfield eSense
Universal App is available in the Google Play Store (Android) for 1.99 Euro or in the
Apple App Store (iOS) for free.
Beside the improved design and usability is the tone feedback and tactile feedback.
Those give you more choices regarding the feedback. Therefore you can adjust your
biofeedback-training individual to your wishes.
General view
Time elapsed
Momentary value
Overall maximum
Overall minimum
Difference
between minimum
and maximum
Indicator for rising
or falling values
Settings
Instructions / Help
Zoom for
conductance scale
Scale for skin
conductance (µS)
Momentary value
Start and stop of the
recording process
Procedures
Archive

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Same values like
in vertical format
Toggle Full screen
Start and stop of
the recording
Indicator for rising or
falling values
Time scale in
seconds
Settings (Overview)
Feedback Direction
Decide if rising (“raise”) or falling
(“lower”) values should count as
success for the feedback.
Responsive time
Adjust how sensitive and quick the
feedback will react to a changing
direction (rising or falling) of the
values.
Music Feedback
Volume for negative Feedback:
When values move in the wrong
direction, the sound becomes more
quiet.
Tone Feedback
You can always hear sounds from
other Apps in the background.
Tactile Feedback
Your device will vibrate as feedback.

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Choose Song
Choose any Audio file.
Video
Select: In the Dropdown Menu, you
can choose also “Custom”. You can
choose your own videos from the
hard drive of your device.
Decimal separator
You can choose between point or
comma.
Time length X-Axis
You can set the time frame which is
shown on the graph while measuring.
Sample Rate (CSV Export)
This determines how many values
per Second are recorded. More
values (a higher value of Hz) creates
more detailed data, but also
increases the size of the download-
file.

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Tone Feedback
Tone Feedback
A new function of the Mindfield
Universal App.
Volume for tone feedback
Set the volume for the tone feedback.
Tone range (from-to)
You can set the range in which the
tone feedback will be active. We
suggest to choose a wide range in
the beginning and reduce it later if
necessary
Musical instrument
You can choose from several pre-
installed instruments.
Just for Android: You can also
choose your own tones. Choose
“custom tone” (just visible in
Android). You need to put suitable
MP3-files into the folder “eSense
tone files” which is located in the root
of Android.
Interval
Set an interval for the tone feedback.
You can choose different values
between 1 and 20 seconds.

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Tactile Feedback
Tactile Feedback
Another new function of the Mindfield
Universal App. Your device can
vibrate in order to give you direct
feedback about your training.
Vibration interval
Set how long your device will vibrate
as feedback.
Tactile Feedback Direction
Decide if rising (“raise”) or falling
(“lower”) values should count as
success for the feedback.
New: Procedures
A Procedure consists of several assembled modules. With this new feature, you can
build the perfect individual relaxation guide, a stress test, pre-defined biofeedback
training or use it for research.
There are many possibilities. During a procedure, your skin response, respectively
or temperature (depending on the eSense sensor you have) will be recorded and
afterwards you see your results for each module and in total.
Summary measured values

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We suggest you to test the demo-procedures which are included in the app. Those
will give you a guided overview over the different modules and functions of the
procedures.
Edit or delete procedure
To edit a procedure, simply swipe it
to the left in the overview.
You then see the blue pen-symbol to
edit the module.
Procedure editor
Procedure name
Here you can name your procedure
with a suitable name (in this example
it is simply “test”).
Decimal separator
You can choose between point or
comma.
Sample Rate (CSV Export)
This determines how many values
per Second are recorded. More
values (a higher value of Hz) creates
more detailed data, but also
increases the size of the download-
file.
Add Module to procedure
Start to add modules to your
procedure by pushing the + -sign!