Surrogate Data Analysis of Heart Rate Variability During Exposure to Odors

It is well known that our bodies undergo various changes when we perceive odors. In recent years, researchers have attempted to evaluate odors by measuring these changes through physiological data. Additionally, it is becoming clear that physiological measurement data exhibit nonlinearity.
Therefore, we applied surrogate data analysis to heart rate variability data during olfactory stimulation to evaluate this nonlinearity. In this study, we performed surrogate data analysis on heart rate variability data at rest and during olfactory stimulation using curry and musk odorants. The results indicated that nonlinearity was present at rest and during stimulation, suggesting that nonlinear analysis is useful for heart rate variability analysis.
This research was conducted in collaboration with Professor Hiroki Takada of the University of Fukui.