[ASMR Artists]

Dutch biology student and ASMR artist shares her views on the evolutionary origin of ASMR

/ Dr. Richard / 1 Comment

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response UniversityJolien Morren has her Bachelor’s degree in Marine biology and Ecology & Evolution and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Biology and Science Communication and Society at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Jolien also creates ASMR videos for her YouTube channel, RelaxingSounds92, and for her blog, Sepiola.

I was very interested in talking with Jolien about ASMR after reading the subtitle of her blog, “Biologist and science communicator in the making, ASMR YouTuber, blogger”.

I knew she would have some valuable biological, evolutionary, and other related thoughts about ASMR.

Continue reading →

Emma WhispersRed performs live ASMR session

/ Dr. Richard / 2 Comments

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response UniversityASMR is a relaxing sensation experienced in the real world and often through one-on-one interactions.

One of the greatest curiosities is that ASMR can also be strongly stimulated by watching videos of ASMR triggering behaviors and sounds recorded by talented ASMR artists.

One of those talented artists includes Emma Smith, the popular online ASMR artist known as WhispersRed.

And now Emma has brought the ASMR experience full circle by transitioning ASMR from a real world, individual-based experience to an online, global-based experience and then back to the real world as a live, audience-based experience.

Continue reading →

History of ASMR: Interview with WhisperingLife, the first ASMR artist (podcast episode #6)

/ Dr. Richard / Leave a comment

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response UniversityThis is the audio version of my interview with WhisperingLife.

This audio recording gives a short overview of WhisperingLife and then I read the transcript of the interview which I initially posted on February 8, 2016.

Subscribe to the ASMR University Podcast to hear all of the past and future episodes or listen to this one episode right here:

Continue reading →

What can politicians learn from ASMR artists?

/ Dr. Richard / Leave a comment

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response UniversityGood politicians and good online ASMR artists have a similar metric; their ability to connect with their audience is usually reflected in their number of followers.

Most ASMR artists understand that connecting with your audience is not just about having appealing and appropriate content for their target audience, but also about how the artist conveys that content through their behaviors which include eye contact, hand movements, vocal tone, facial expressions, and verbal pacing.

Politicians have a similar challenge of having appropriate content and behaviors, but it seems they are more likely to remember what to say and less likely to remember the importance of how they say it.

A recent publication in the journal Communication Monographs looked at the behaviors of politicians in U.S. presidential debates.

Continue reading →

Mother discovers that ASMR videos provide helpful relief for her son with microcephaly

/ Dr. Richard / 2 Comments

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response UniversitySnetha is a British Indian living in the United Kingdom. She describes herself as a spiritually-minded, worldly, and caring person who has love and support for all those around her and for those in the world.

As the ASMR artist known as CoconutsWhisper, she provides love and support for those in the world through her relaxing and enchanting YouTube videos.

As a mother of a child with microcephaly, she provides love and support for her son through her daily parenting and caregiving.

Parenting in general has many inherent challenges, being a parent of a child with microcephaly has additional challenges – for both her and her son.

Snetha wondered if and how her son might react to ASMR videos. To both their delights she discovered that the videos were a new way to provide relief to her son.

Continue reading →

Interview with WhisperingLife, the first ASMR artist

/ Dr. Richard / 2 Comments

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian ResponseWhisperingLife has her Bachelors of Science degree in Ophthalmic Dispensing and is currently a Dispensing Optician in Nottingham, England.

WhisperingLife is not her real name, she prefers to keep that private.  But this was the name she chose as her alias in early 2009 when she created the first whisper-dedicated channel on YouTube.

For this historical milestone, she is often referred to as the first ASMR artist.

Before jumping into the interview I want to provide more context and background about WhisperingLife.

Continue reading →

What would you want in a real world ASMR spa?

/ Dr. Richard / 5 Comments

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response UniversityI have previously written an article about an in-person ASMR spa in Canada.

Well, the lucky citizens of Ireland may also be getting a new ASMR spa for their real world tingles and relaxation.

Amanda Rose Doherty is a product manager at a pharmaceutical company in Dublin, Ireland and received her Business Studies Degree in Marketing at Dublin City University.

Amanda is also interested in opening up an ASMR spa in Dublin.

Her keen marketing education and wisdom is guiding her to make informed decisions about her spa vision.  To help her do this, she has created a survey to gather input from those within the ASMR community.

In my interview with Amanda she shares her inspiration for an ASMR spa, her goals for the survey about the spa, her perceived challenges of bringing her idea to reality, her wonderful vision of an ASMR-enriched future and more.

Continue reading →

Meet WhispersRed and explore her stunning new website

/ Dr. Richard / 2 Comments

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response UniversityEmma Smith is a resident of London, England, but perhaps she is better known as the ASMR artist, WhispersRed.

Emma posted her first ASMR video on YouTube in July, 2013.  It was 1 minute and 23 seconds long, and filmed on her iPad.

Now, about 2.5 years later, Emma has posted over 190 productions of increasing video and audio quality and has reached over 126,000 followers.

Whenever I see someone listing out their favorite ASMR artists online, her name is usually at the top of their lists.  Emma is also often featured, quoted, or mentioned in articles, radio programs, and TV news stories and programs about ASMR.

In my interview with Emma she shares what drives her dedication to the ASMR community, how she has changed over the past 10 years, her tips for new ASMR artists, her challenges with creating her new website, her curiosities about the potential involvement of the vagus nerve in ASMR, and more.

Continue reading →

Meet Claire Tolan and her intriguing array of ASMR-inspired artistic projects

/ Dr. Richard / Leave a comment

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response UniversityClaire Tolan is an artist residing in Berlin, Germany who is weaving ASMR into new and exciting artistic domains.

She has created and hosts a regular ASMR radio show, has incorporated ASMR into a surveillance-themed exhibition, has integrated ASMR into a Techno night club, is merging ASMR and karaoke to explore facets of audience participation, is putting the finishing touches on an ASMR ring tone project, and also has some ASMR-themed games in her crucible.

And if all that is not enough, Claire has even collaborated with the American musician Holly Herndon to produce, what Wired magazine calls, “the album’s most curious track.”

If art is a manifestation of the essence and being of an artist, then my interview with Claire showed me that her projects are only a glimmer of the profound and intriguing person behind those productions.

In my interview with Claire she shares her interest in the therapeutic potential of ASMR, how ASMR can be said to “leak with love”, her incorporation of data into her work, her beliefs and involvements with political activism, her reasons for defending ASMR, her favorite YouTube ASMR artists, and more.

Continue reading →

History of ASMR: About WhisperingLife, the first ASMR artist (podcast episode #5)

/ Dr. Richard / 2 Comments

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response UniversityOn March 26, 2009, a young woman started posting videos of herself whispering on YouTube.

She shared some information about herself on YouTube, but she never revealed her exact identity.

Most people refer to her by the name of her YouTube channel, WhisperingLife – and credit her with starting the first whisper channel on YouTube.

Today’s podcast will focus on WhisperingLife and address the following questions:

  • How old was she and where was she from?
  • What inspired her to start posting whisper videos?
  • Did she intend to relax listeners with her whispering or was that just an unexpected outcome?
  • What did she whisper about?
  • Was she just a ‘whisper artist’ or was she an ‘ASMR artist’?
  • Did she ever show her face in her videos?
  • What did she use for a camera?
  • How many videos did she post?
  • Why did she stop posting videos?

The podcast will also include comments she received in the first year she started her channel in 2009, and include comments posted on her last video she uploaded in 2014.

Subscribe to the ASMR University Podcast to hear all of the past and future episodes or listen to this one episode right here:

Continue reading →