By student journalist Goh Kok Guan

Ahmad is a 25-year-old IT officer.

One day at work, he stumbled upon a video on YouTube while he had his earphones on.

What he heard sent some weird tingly vibes down his spine and as he listened further, he began to find pleasure in something new.

He described this video as “relaxing at an elevated level”.

What Ahmad had experienced is known as Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, or ASMR for short.

It sends off a pleasant tingly sensation on the skin, which usually begins from the scalp and down to the back of the neck, in response to specific sensory stimuli such as sound, sight or touch.

The emergence of ASMR began in the late 2000s, before it was given a more scientific term.

A health-related forum discussed about the unexplainable, spontaneous “itch” on the body.

One would say that it feels like a “head orgasm” in a non-sexual way.

The unknown feeling quickly gained recognition on social media platforms.

“Hug Your Brain Day” was the first ASMR related event in 2010, which encouraged participants to engage in activities that trigger ASMR.

This led to the forming of large communities over the Internet, with some of the largest ones being on Facebook, Reddit and YouTube.

Today, ASMR is one of the highest trends on Youtube; over 7.6 million videos have been uploaded by 280,000 ASMR content creators (or as they like to call themselves, ASMRtists), and almost 90 per cent of them are over 20 minutes long.

Even celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher, Mitch Grassi from Pentatonix, and Cara Delevingne, an actor from Suicide Squad, have either discussed, experienced ASMR or even joined in the bandwagon and created their own ASMR content.

The different types

There is a wide genre of ASMR videos which be separated into two main categories; one of them is known as unintentional ASMR, whereby the videos are created with zero intention of making ASMR triggers, such as how-to videos, documentaries and Bob Ross’s painting episodes.

The other is intentional ASMR, which most ASMRtists creates. Content creators would either be doing mundane tasks, (for instance, whispering from ear-to-ear, brushing hair, rubbing hands together) or using random objects like rubber, fabric and glass to create various sounds to trigger ASMR.

Professional ASMRtists would use high quality, binaural microphone to build more realism, as if the listeners were just a few inches away from them.

The brushing sound made by the cotton swab against the microphone makes listeners feel like their ears are being cleaned, which is one of the most popular ASMR triggers.

Elizabeth Sweet, or more commonly known by her YouTube channel name as Miss Shadow Lovely is an ASMRtist.

She has played various roles in each of her videos, from a shy maid to mythical creatures such as a dark elf or a centaur.

Her role-play videos mainly focus on fantasy themes, appealing to anime fans.

She first discovered ASMR when she was searching for white noise and binaural content video to help her sleep.

However, unlike most ASMR fans, she hates traditional ASMR triggers such as whispering or sounds made by the mouth like lip smacking and tongue-clicking.

“Whispering makes me feel like my personal space is being invaded and mouth noises irritate me to no end.

“As a voice actor, role-playing, storytelling and atmospheric noises are my triggers for sure. The sound of water droplets in caves and raindrops hitting a tin roof are some of those things.”

A revelation

Ahmad Syarbini Mat, an ASMR enthusiast, strongly believes that ASMR helps to soothe and calm the listeners, making them feel more at peace and collected.

How Ahmad discovered ASMR was through one of his subscribed YouTube channels known for making parodies, as one of their videos was about ASMR.

“It was pretty ironic. The video was aimed at making fun of ASMR role-plays, but I ended up enjoying most of the triggers,” Ahmad chuckled.

Ever since the discovery of his newfound pleasure, he has started to look out for similar content.

His first purely intentional ASMR video was a cranial clinical exam role play. He claimed listening to these sorts of videos has greatly reduced his stress levels at work and they also work as his “sleeping pills”.

For something that seems so therapeutic, surely it could be applied in the medical field. Well, not exactly.

Psychotherapist Na Weng Kuan said that years of studies and experiments are required before new methods of therapy can be applied.

Unfortunately, there are not many in-depth researches recorded on ASMR to this day.

According to The Guardian, there has only been one research paper published on this.

The science behind it

Before the interview, Na had never heard of ASMR, so he was given a few minutes to listen to an audio sample of a clinical exam.

“It is definitely an ear-opening experience for me,” he said.

“But I can easily imagine how most people can find this very pleasing to hear.”

He stressed that not everyone will experience ASMR, and those who do are more likely to have sensitive hearing.

He also assumed that ASMR are more effective towards the younger generation and tech-savvy users.

“Those who could not comprehend the technology advancement are more likely to find this weird and even disgusting.”

However, he thinks that this phenomenon has the same concept as traditional meditation, like how monks chant “ohm”.

Similar to meditation, ASMR can alleviate pains such as stress, migraine and even depression, but Na said it would not be effective if the illness is critical.

“Simply put, it works like painkillers.

“It helps relieves the pain, but it is only temporary. The pain will return overtime unless the root of the problem has been pulled out.

“And it is my job to find that root and help my patients achieve a healthy lifestyle by consulting them and giving medical advice.”

On the bright side, Na said that ASMR may have a good potential to emerge in the therapeutical field.

“When I was doing my Masters degree 10 years back in Shanghai, I was tasked to write a thesis on the future of psychotherapy. I predicted that technology would play a huge role in it.

“After finding out what ASMR is today, I personally think this could possibly be a new step towards the future of therapy,” he said.

Goh Kok Guan is a student journalist and is pursuing his 3+0 Bachelor of Communication from University of Southern Queensland Australia at Han Chiang College.