The Real Truth About ASMR

ASMR is a phenomenon that gives the observer a tingling feeling when hearing or viewing certain stimuli. There’s a massive, growing audience looking to get their tingle on. Here’s the real truth about ASMR.

10. What Is ASMR?

AMSR can be hard to describe. Mostly, it’s a tingling sensation that typically begins on the scalp. The sensation then moves down the back of the neck and upper spine. It’s considered a pleasant form of paresthesia, a sensation of the skin with no apparent physical cause. It also draws comparisons to auditory-tactile synesthesia and may overlap with “frisson” — more on that in a bit.

9. What Does ASMR Stand For?

ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response. Autonomous, meaning the sensation is spontaneous, self-governing, with or without control. Sensory, because it affects the senses or causes sensations. Meridian, because it achieves a peak, climax, or highest point of development. Response, because the experience is triggered by something external or internal.

8. ASMR Triggers Differ Between People

Doctors recognize that the differences in people sometimes require different remedies for the same malady. Such is the case with ASMR. What triggers a response will differ from person to person. Some people can be triggered by listening to sounds, while others get the sensation from a visual. Still others need to actively touch something to get a tingle.

7. ASMR Isn’t Limited to One Part of the Body

For most people, tingles from ASMR begin with the scalp and mostly occur from the neck up. But everyone is different, thus, they have different responses. Some people will feel tingling in different parts of the body. Therefore, it is believed that ASMR can be experienced in any part of the body. ASMR is still being analyzed and explored.

6. ASMR Gives You a Brain Massage

Although ASMR tingles can be hard to describe, one common description that people give is that it is something of a “brain massage.” One reason may be that the images and sounds believed to stimulate your brain most often begin at the top of the scalp. This pleasing tingle might feel like a brain massage.

5. The Most Popular ASMR Triggers

The most common effective ASMR triggers are auditory and visual. Some of the most effective sounds are a whispering or softly speaking voice. Another is a person exhaling or blowing into a microphone. Crackling, crinkly, or tapping noises, such as fingernails, are also effective. Visually, watching relaxing videos is also said to produce the effect.

4. ASMR Is Hugely Popular

Trying to trigger an ASMR response has become massively popular, mostly due to social media. YouTube and TikTok are filled with ASMR videos where creators have gone all out to create tingle-inducing content. Around half of the people who watch ASMR videos are between 18 and 24 years of age.

3. Artist Bob Ross Is the King of ASMR

Late artist Bob Ross, famous for his The Joy of Painting instructional videos on public television, is considered the “King of ASMR” by Tingle fans. That’s because watching his videos is said to trigger the ASMR response. It’s calming watching Bob paint landscapes. He speaks gently, and his soft-spoken tone has a way of lulling the listener into relaxation.

2. The Difference Between ASMR and Frisson

Frisson, the French word for shiver, is also referred to as aesthetic chills or psychogenic shivers. It’s a psychophysiological response to stimuli that can occur from music, films, books, photos, people, rituals, or stories. It often triggers goosebumps. While it can be interrelated with ASMR, ASMR creates a qualitatively different experience with different kinds of triggers.

1. ASMR Is Coming to the Big Screen

Moviemakers are always looking for different ways to stimulate the audience. Filmmakers have tried to use odors in failed systems such as Smell-O-Rama, Smell-O-Vision, AromaRama, and John Waters’ “Odorama” scratch-n-sniff card. Some have tried subliminal stimuli in audio and visuals. Now, studios are looking to bring ASMR into their works, hoping to give “tingles” to the audience.