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The Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a popular practice on the internet, with over 20 million video views. If this practice does not tell you anything, the principle is however simple: whispers or tapping that can provide an effect of well-being, such as "tingling".
This technique is both unknown to the general public, but has also managed to federate millions of people on social networks (YouTube and Twitch in particular).
The sound of the fingers touching the microphone, the cutting of a soap or the sounds of mouth of a person who eats, these are all actions that can bring together lovers of ASMR in front of the same video. All these different sounds are called triggers, that is, sounds that trigger a reaction. Every passionate about ASMR has its own "triggers".
Demonstration of the French youtubeur, Pierre G ASMR, followed by more than 600 000 subscribers, who compiled all the triggering sounds that could potentially provide a feeling of relaxation.
A practice that is beginning to interest researchers
Although this relaxation technique has existed since 2008 and the term "ASMR" since 2010, many people have already experienced the ASMR during their youth, but without really understanding the phenomenon, nor putting words on it. This practice has been highly visible thanks to social networks and has become more popular in recent years.
Scientific studies on this method are still in their infancy. The first study was conducted by researchers Emma Barratt and Nick Davis of the University of Swansea in 2015, " Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR): a flow-like mental state ". Conducted with 475 participants, it helps to understand how these people are receptive to sounds. The sensation is sometimes described as a thrill that would start from the top of the skull to go down to the spine and then go through the shoulders, but the feeling is unique to each.
Raphael, a 22-year-old student, has been listening to the ASMR for 7 years, but does not feel the famous shivers so much described on the internet. For him, " it's like a stage of deep relaxation before falling asleep. "
According to the most popular videos on the internet, Emma Barratt and Nick Davis have differentiated several kinds of stimuli: whispers, repetition of slow movements, or role-plays, all very popular within the community. RAMS. The idea of role playing can be surprising, but this is also the interest of the ASMR. Filmed in close-up, these videos allow a closeness between the person who makes the video and the one who listens and watches it. Medical appointments, massage, ear inspection are all topics that youtubeurs choose for their videos, a way to pay particular attention to the listener.
Nadia, alias Morti ASMR on Youtube, considers that with role plays, " People have the impression of enjoying real attention, which reassures them, combined with a whispered voice and comforting words ". As on this video where the youtubeuse makes a virtual facial.
According to the study conducted by Emma Barrat and Nick Davis, the reasons people watch videos are multiple: 98% of participants say they look at the ASMR to relax, 82% to sleep, and 70% to reduce their stress .
In the United States, Dr. Craig Richard even founded the University of ASMR , to continue the exploration of this method little known to the scientific world and which sometimes faces the stigma or misunderstanding of those who do not do not support hearing these sounds.
The benefits of ASMR, the 21st century meditation
Through their study, Emma Barrat and Nick Davis also found that participants who listened to the ASMR experienced a decrease in their anxiety, or that it played positively on their chronic pain, insomnia or even some symptoms related to depression. If further research is needed, according to these researchers, the feeling of well-being that comes with ASMR is comparable to the effects of intense physical activity or mindfulness meditation.
Interviewed many times on the ASMR, the French neurologist Pierre Lemarquis, considers that the beneficial effects of this practice can surely be explained by a secretion of endorphin, in connection with the feeling of well-being. This is why watching ASMR videos improves the symptoms in some people.
Yasmina has been listening to the ASMR for more than four years and it was while searching for relaxing videos that she first heard these funny sounds on Youtube. " It helped me during my revisions of the baccalaureate, because I was very stressed. But it also allowed me to sleep better and now I do not need to be stressed to want to listen to it. "
The ASMR is like a way of life, at least that's how Raphael feels, admitting to watch several hours of videos every day and comparing the feeling of relaxation he feels to childhood memories . " This comparison with childhood is quite common in the community, " says Raphael.
This idea is also close to Nadia's testimony, youtubeuse Morti ASMR, who believes that role-playing listeners like the maternal side of listening and watching someone pretend to take care of themselves. . After years of listening to ASMR, she wanted to create her own youtube channel: " I wanted to help people who wanted to relax or who were looking for sleep techniques . "
Like Nadia, Amélie the youtubeuse better known as Rendez-Vous ASMR likes to make videos for their creative aspects since they give to see and hear. But it is especially praising the ASMR community who is " very benevolent, since Internet users are here to relax ." She first listened to the ASMR before doing so. " It also gives me great pleasure to see that I help some people who are anxious, insomniac or sick, to have more enjoyable moments ," she says.
The ASMR would thus also become a means of comfort on social networks, where virtual relationships are born between the youtubeur and its subscribers. A way like any other, to relax and meditate. This is what Yasmina confirms: " I do not talk about the ASMR with my entourage, because it's my little pleasure to me, it relaxes me. "
A sound phenomenon that turns into a business
By developing, the ASMR has become a marketing product. Henceforth, applications specifically dedicated to viewing ASMR videos have come into being, such as Tingles (which translates from English means "tingling"). The disadvantage: to watch some videos you must now pay.
The ASMR is so popular that it is also found in commercials in the United States, or in youtube videos where stars like Salma Hayek or Jake Gyllenhaal have fun making the ASMR.
Like all YouTube phenomena, some ASMR youtubers are now experiencing their whispers, like the ever-popular Gentle whispering ASMR. But for others, it's still a hobby.
" The ASMR takes me a few hours a week. I am accompanied by students with disabilities and mother of three children so my weeks are busy, but sharing these videos is a pleasure that I can not put aside for the moment, "says Nadia, alias Morti ASMR.
In another study conducted by the University of Sheffield in 2018, the data collected by the participants consider the possibility that the ASMR is a therapeutic method that can have positive effects on the psychological and physical health of a person.