ASMR You Serious?

There’s a good chance that you have never heard about ASMR, and if you have, you almost certainly haven’t talked about it. But almost everyone has experienced it in some way or another, either as a tiny child, in romantic encounter, or maybe even during a game of telephone. When somebody whispers in your ear, it can trigger a very relaxing, somewhat paralyzing chill that spreads in a wave over the head and sometimes in the lower back. This is caused by a relatively unknown mechanism in the body called the autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR). Depending on the context, it can foster a feeling of tranquility and/or sexual arousal. While the scientific reasons for this response are still unknown, the sensation has found a significant appeal among a growing YouTube community.

A simple search of the terms “ASMR” or “whispering” will result in an array of videos that oddly enough comprise of many people just whispering to the camera, most of the time for about twenty to thirty minutes. Sometimes they just make lip sounds. Sometimes they tap and scratch random objects. Sometimes they pretend to give the audience a fake haircut.

So what’s going on here?

It turns out that for many people, ASMR videos provide a drug-free way to relax by tapping into a sensation in the body design for exactly that. In order to fall asleep, people will listen to YouTubers (sometimes known as ASMRtists) whisper and tap objects to create this sensation in their headphones. There are all different kinds of people making these videos but certain voices are more effective to certain people.

And as it happens, certain audio recording techniques are more effective as well. After finding out that ASMR videos exist, I found myself very intrigued not only by the idea of using this sensation to relax, but also how to use 3D audio recording techniques to best recreate natural human hearing. I developed an ASMR series of my own called “Ultimate Plane”. The idea behind it was to create a found footage style narrative using ASMR to tell a post-apocalyptic story. In terms of stereo recording, I used two omnidirectional stick microphones places just outside the frame of the shot, replicating approximately where human ears would pick up sound. When two omnidirectional mics are recorded together and then hard panned left and right, it creates a three dimensional listening environment, meaning that even without visuals, a person would be able to pinpoint the direction and distance of the source of the sound.

Only five episode were shot because I realized I had gotten too many people and too many props involved to keep making the weekly commitment to record episodes, but of the feedback I got, it was mostly positive, albeit many people thought it was weird. To tell the truth, it is weird, but it works and whiles it’s rarely talked about, a lot more people turn to ASMR than you may think. For me, it was a test in storytelling and sound recording and someday I’m going to go back to 3D ASMR sound recording. In the meantime, I think I’ll just listen to it sometimes and pretend that I don’t.

ASMR: An Underground Community

Recently, a subculture has emerged from the depths of Reddit and Youtube. Known as ASMR, (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) it is a widely unknown phenomenon where a person feels a "tingling" sensation in their head, spine, back or other parts of the body in response to certain auditory or visual triggers. ASMR videos are meant to trigger this euphoric sensation in their viewers. This is done by a person whispering (usually a female) or making sounds with objects into a 3D microphone, which creates a realistic atmosphere. Although the word "meridian" is basically a more polite word for orgasm, ASMRers swear that the sensation is not meant to be sexual, but caring or loving. The videos may seem extremely strange or boring to the average viewer, but to thousands of people these videos are a source of relaxation and pleasure. Many people even use it to calm anxiety or battle insomnia.

Here is one of the most popular ASMR videos by youtuber GentleWhispering, with over four million views. To get the full effect, you must wear headphones.

Yes, this is probably one of the strangest things you've ever seen in your life. But for a second, just put aside the fact that you watched either all or part of a video of a woman whispering nonsense into your ears and playing with hairbrushes. What I find interesting about these videos is their use of binaural recording. People who produce these videos use 3D microphones, which are basically two omnidirectional microphones, to make it feel like the listener is actually in whatever situation the actor is portraying. When you put the headphones on and listen to some of these videos, the effect is jarring, because it sounds like someone is actually speaking into your ear. Whether you feel a sensation or not, it is an interesting use of audio that I have never experienced before being used in this way.

There has been no scientific research as to why people feel these sensations or what the sensation actually is, but with such a large following, it's hard to ignore this abnormal phenomenon. The community of ASMR is growing exponentially, and if it proves to be medically beneficial, it may be a better alternative to drugs for those who suffer from anxiety, insomnia or other issues such as these.