ASMR: Brain Tingles - Do You Experience It?

[Dembadon]

This is difficult to explain, but it's something I've experienced for as long as I can remember and am wondering if anyone else shares these symptoms. Whenever I listen to someone speaking softly or whispering, with a soothing voice, I get tingling sensations in my ears, scalp and neck. Using headphones greatly increases the intensity. Here's a website I found that best describes what I'm talking about: http://www.asmr-research.org/". Unfortunately, I couldn't find any scientific documentation or studies about "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response."

Does anyone else experience this, or something similar?

Here's a video that produces the sensations I'm talking about (best when used with headphones in a quiet environment):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmUL87ttaZ4

 

[Ouabache]

Yes, we have discussed this response before under https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=413657". Note it is listed #4 in the common external triggers in the list from your ASMR reference.

I am guessing the quality of the sounds (as exemplified in your video), is triggering the pleasure sensors of the brain. In this case it is a woman's voice (isn't that Evo's voice? ). To disassociate this from a sexual response, does a man's voice or other animal vocalization elicit the same reaction?

 

[Evo]

When I saw the thread title, I was ready to delete and ban for pornographic spam...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

When I saw the thread title, I was ready to delete and ban for pornographic spam...

Oh admit it, you would delete and ban for free.

 

[bp_psy]

I may be weird but I find that women voice and way of speaking extremely annoying. There is a definite annoying tingling sensation in my ears ,neck and eyes.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

In the second grade, I had a very old little nun [well, she seemed ancient to me then, and kind of mean] who had the strangest effect on me. If she even got within a couple of feet of me, I immediately became euphoric and felt light headed. I used to make excuses to have her help me when I didn't need help, just so that I could feel the effect.

It was like having my own little morphine nun.

 

[Evo]

Oh admit it, you would delete and ban for free.

Ahahahaha!

 

[Ouabache]

Sampling of deep male voice for comparison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdBV7LTd07g
If the embedding does not work properly here is another http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdBV7LTd07g"

This is probably not a fair comparison as more things are going on here.
This is a theatrical voice with musical backdrop meant to elicit an emotional response.
We are not dissociating the music from the voice on this one. I feel the ASMR reaction.

 

[Dembadon]

Yes, we have discussed this response before under https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=413657". Note it is listed #4 in the common external triggers in the list from your ASMR reference.

I am guessing the quality of the sounds (as exemplified in your video), is triggering the pleasure sensors of the brain. In this case it is a woman's voice. To disassociate this from a sexual response, does a man's voice or other animal vocalization elicit the same reaction?

Thanks for the link, and yes, the sensations are independent of gender and are also highly dependent on the quality of the audio. If the quality of the audio is bad (buzzing, feedback, hollow-sounding) then it doesn't have as much of an effect, if any at all. I also experience it when I'm watching someone open a package in a quiet environment. Here's a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDHP80aRvdo

I think it's the sound of the plastic packaging being manipulated that causes it.

When I saw the thread title, I was ready to delete and ban for pornographic spam...

I can't believe you would suspect such a thing from me!

Sampling of deep male voice for comparison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdBV7LTd07g
This is probably not a fair comparison as more things are going on here.
This is a theatrical voice with musical backdrop meant to elicit an emotional response.
We are not dissociating the music from the voice on this one. I feel ASMR reaction.

I'll have to listen to it when I get home from work.

Edit (1:11 PM): The thread you linked, "musical chills," I associate more with goosebumps. What I'm talking about here is a different feeling for me; there aren't goosebumps involved. It's almost the same as a "tickle." It's possible that it's related to the same thing and is just a different manifestation.

2nd Edit (1:40 PM): The more I think about it, the more accurate the word "tickle" becomes when describing the feeling. I feel it the most in my ears.

 

[Dembadon]

The male lion voice had a minor affect. I think there was too much other noise going on.

I thought about it some more and I think the first time I noticed it was actually during one of Bob Ross's painting episodes when I was younger. The sounds of the brush and his voice would either put me to sleep or give me these brain tickles.

I wish I could articulate it better; it probably sounds very strange.

 

[Ouabache]

Since you are asking what others experience; on both the female voice and the crinkling packaging examples, I did not feel any brain or ear tickling sensation. I did sense a minor (mildly irritating) auditory effect, but not an ASMR reaction.

 

[ASMR Freak]

I’ll just leave this here:
http://www.asmrelax.com/

 

[Dembadon]

Here is another link describing the feeling.

Ignoring the hyperbole and sensationalistic language used in the article, the author does well in articulating the gist of what I experience when listening to "asmr/whisper" videos, but only some of the "triggers" he mentions are effective for me:

• Exposure to slow, accented, or unique speech patterns
• Viewing educational or instructive videos or lectures
• Watching another person complete a task, often in a diligent, attentive manner - examples would be filling out a form, writing a check, going through a purse or bag, inspecting an item closely, etc.

I listen to asmr/whisper videos pretty much every night while attempting to fall asleep. However, I've noticed the feeling becomes less apparent/intense after many consecutive nights of listening to these videos. I can temporarily remedy this by "rotating" the videos I watch, but the only thing that seems to reset my ability to experience this feeling is to completely abstain from listening to them for a period of about 2 weeks. Then, when I start listening to them again, the "brain tingles" are much more intense.

Apparently there is a research group (http://www.asmr-research.org/) that is trying to study this phenomena scientifically, but I've yet to see anything published about their findings, assuming they've even been conducting any tests. I'd really like to find some information about this from a scientific perspective; all I can find are people's anecdotes and opinions.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Always the experimentalist, I handed my copy of Mandl & Shaw to the missus and asked her to read out loud. I'd tell you how that turned out except Evo will certainly delete and ban.

 

[lisab]

Whenever this would happen to me, I'd turn off the audio or move away from it - it was sort of disconcerting. But I tried just relaxing and going with it instead, after reading this thread. I can't say it's a pleasurable feeling, but at least it doesn't grate on me like it used to.

 

[Dembadon]

Whenever this would happen to me, I'd turn off the audio or move away from it - it was sort of disconcerting. But I tried just relaxing and going with it instead, after reading this thread. I can't say it's a pleasurable feeling, but at least it doesn't grate on me like it used to.

Thank you for posting your experience, lisab. I'd never considered that some people might find the sensation to be uncomfortable. Do certain triggers have a "less-grating" effect than others?

 

[leroyjenkens]

I tried it and I'm getting nothing. I felt something in my head, but I think that was the vibration from the sound in the earbuds.

 

[renz]

A bit unrelated, but i first heard of ASMR while testing my headphones on a 3D sound video.
Use your headphone and listen to this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR_sk6UiCKw

 

[MrGamma]

Yeah, I came searching to see if any physics might explain it.

Synesthesia is the only scientific terminology along with Anesthesia being the opposite of sensitivity.

I've just eaten a load of sugar so my tingles are a little numb lately.

Anyways... here's a good bunch of them... http://www.asmrstudio.com/

 

[MrGamma]

Here is a good post with some information on the subject

http://forums.asmrstudio.com/read.php?4,19

 

[MathJakob]

ASMR is awesome! I get those tingles when I hear scratching or tapping of certain textures. One of the best videos is people who have 3D mics and scratch and tap the actual mic so it feels like someone is tapping your headphones and you can literally feel the vibrations in your ears.

Amazing!

 

[Drakkith]

Most of the videos did nothing for me, but the Mufasa talking to Simba one kind of did.

 

[MrGamma]

Deep male voices? These two guys are the best.

http://massageasmr.asmrstudio.com/?v=Gbcr3r3acX4

http://ephemeralrift.asmrstudio.com/?v=6ZVjbrcKZUU

 

[Dembadon]

This guy is my favorite:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLkpnHm-KEmEACcYHX6cX5w

 

[HayleySarg]

no tingles, only colors. That's not surprising as I have synesthesia and often associate certain patterns of speech with different colors. It's hard to explain, but I've gotten by my whole life "hearing colors".

My father also has synesthesia in the manner I do, interestingly enough.