Breaks are sections of a beatmap which have no hit objects. During this time, health drain is temporarily halted. Breaks usually allow the player to rest their arm for a short while and reposition their input device.
Depending on the enabled settings, letterboxes may appear when a break is initiated. In addition to this, a passing or failing graphic and sound may appear to indicate if a player is doing well or not. This will only appear if there is enough time for the graphic to show.