Emma WhispersRed performs live ASMR session

April 13, 2016April 25, 2016 / Dr. Richard / 2 Comments

ASMR 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.

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

March 14, 2016June 2, 2017 / Dr. Richard / Leave a comment

This 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:

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What can politicians learn from ASMR artists?

March 4, 2016March 4, 2016 / Dr. Richard / Leave a comment

Good 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.

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

February 15, 2016June 2, 2017 / Dr. Richard / 2 Comments

Snetha 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.

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Interview with WhisperingLife, the first ASMR artist

February 8, 2016 / Dr. Richard / 2 Comments

WhisperingLife 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.

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Meet WhispersRed and explore her stunning new website

December 27, 2015 / Dr. Richard / 2 Comments

Emma 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.

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

December 19, 2015 / Dr. Richard / Leave a comment

Claire 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.

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

December 16, 2015September 28, 2017 / Dr. Richard / 2 Comments

On 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:

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‘The ASMR Podcast’ showcases a diversity of ASMR artists

December 7, 2015 / Dr. Richard / Leave a comment

Gerry Parks is a Project Manager at a software development company in Glasgow, Scotland. He has his BA degree in Business and his MSc degree in Information Technology.

Gerry also has a new podcast called, ‘The ASMR Podcast.’

Although he created this podcast, you won’t hear his voice on it…at least not yet. Gerry initially created the podcast as an audio-only platform to help launch new ASMR artists and to help established artists reach new audiences.

In my interview with Gerry he shares the ASMR artists featured so far, his inspiration for creating the podcast, tips for starting a podcast, and more.

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Creative researcher merges ASMR with Opera

November 29, 2015 / Dr. Richard / Leave a comment

Lee Scott fulfills three roles at Bath Spa University in the UK as an educator, digital technologist and graduate student.

He is a creative researcher in digital media, the subject leader of Creative Computing, and a Ph.D. candidate in interactive experiences for web and mobile devices in the School of Humanities and Cultural Industries.

Lee also has a deep interest in opera. And this is not your grandmother’s opera – this is “new opera”.

New opera is technically-mastered, digitally-optimized, emotionally-charged, story-driven, and carefully coded for internet delivery, smart device consumption, and headphone immersion.

New opera may remind you of another type of sensorial and emotional experience, and Lee would agree.

Lee’s other deep interest is ASMR, and so he collaborated with the ASMR artist adreambeam to produce the digital-based web opera, “The Village.”

Another advantage of delivering and experiencing opera through electronic media is that Lee was able to research and analyze viewer behaviors associated with the ASMR aspects of his digital opera.

In my interview with Lee he shares how the collaboration with the ASMR artist adreambeam developed, the relationship between ASMR and opera, his insights on frisson vs ASMR, his development of an ASMR and opera-themed game, research data from his web opera, and more.

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