by G Lacuarta,
CalmWhisperer.com
Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a term for that noticeably pleasurable tingling sensation in the head, scalp, back, or outer areas of the body in response to sight, sound, touch, smell or awareness of something.
When you say ASMR, people who know it usually think of “ASMR videos” of people whispering, soft-speaking, or creating certain sounds that are supposed to trigger relaxation and calming effects. But ASMR is not only triggered by sounds or whispering. As mentioned above, it can be a response also to sight, touch, smell and awareness.
I have been using ASMR videos to get myself relaxed especially at bedtime.
Aside from the more common whispering, some ASMR videos also recreate sounds you would normally hear in everyday situations, such as cutting hair, tapping of fingers, flipping of pages, and even dialogues from certain interactions, such as a receptionist welcoming you to the dental office. Thus there is a lot of role-playing involved.
These sounds are meant to trigger positive, pleasureable responses depending on the experiences that you associate with the sound.
To the uninitiated to the world of ASMR, here’s one of the more popular ASMR videos on YouTube, from the channel Gentle Whispering:
Many of these ASMR videos are binaural recordings — recording with two microphones — to simulate a 3D environment, making the listener feel as if the experience was real and close to the person initiating the ASMR experience.