What Is ASMR? The Tingles, Triggers and Science Explained

ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response. It describes a pleasant, tingling sensation that usually starts on the scalp or the back of the head, often spreads down the neck and shoulders, and comes with a feeling of deep calm.

People feel it in response to gentle "triggers": whispering, soft tapping, the crinkle of paper, slow hand movements, or someone paying close, kind attention to them. Many people watch ASMR videos on YouTube to relax or fall asleep, but not everyone gets the tingles.

What does ASMR stand for, and who named it?

The name was invented by the people who felt it, not by scientists. According to a 2022 study in PLOS ONE, the term was coined in 2010 by Jennifer Allen, a member of the early online community, who also started a Facebook page about it (Trenholm-Jensen et al., 2022).

She chose a deliberately technical, clinical-sounding name. The idea was to make people less embarrassed to talk about the experience and to give it a label researchers might take seriously (Trenholm-Jensen et al., 2022). Researchers have since pointed out that the name itself is not a scientific term (Fredborg et al., 2017), but it stuck, and "ASMR" is now used by scientists and viewers alike.

What do ASMR tingles feel like?

Researchers describe ASMR as a warm, tingling, pleasant feeling that begins at the crown of the head and spreads down the body (Poerio et al., 2018). In the first large survey of people who experience it, the sensation typically started on the scalp in response to a trigger, and for most respondents it began in the same place each time, most often the back of the head or the shoulders (Barratt & Davis, 2015).

People who feel it often describe:

• A light, fizzy or "static" tingle on the scalp, neck or spine
• A wave of relaxation and heaviness, like being on the edge of sleep
• A sense of comfort or being cared for, especially with personal-attention videos

The tingles tend to come in short waves rather than lasting the whole video. Some people feel strong tingles; others mostly feel calm without much tingling at all.

Common ASMR triggers

A trigger is whatever sets off the response. In Barratt and Davis's survey of 475 people who experience ASMR, the most common triggers were whispering (75%), personal attention (69%), crisp sounds such as metallic foil or tapping fingernails (64%) and slow movements (53%) (Barratt & Davis, 2015). About a third (34%) were also triggered by watching someone do a repetitive task.

Popular triggers fall into a few families:

• Sounds: tapping, scratching, brushing, paper and crinkles, page turning, typing, liquid sounds
• Voices: whispering, soft speaking, or no talking at all
• Visual triggers: slow hand movements, light patterns, careful everyday tasks
• Personal attention and roleplay: haircuts, skincare, an eye exam, someone fussing over you on camera
• Pace: most people prefer slow and gentle; some like fast, unpredictable triggers

What works is very personal. The full list, with who tends to like each one, is in our guide to ASMR triggers.

Who experiences ASMR?

Nobody knows exactly how common ASMR is yet. In 2022, researchers noted that no prevalence rate for ASMR had been reported before (Poerio, Ueda & Kondo, 2022).

In their study of 648 students and working adults in Japan, 23.5% were classed as ASMR responders, and the authors tentatively put prevalence at around 20%. They are careful to say this could be an overestimate or an underestimate, and that it needs checking with random samples (Poerio, Ueda & Kondo, 2022). The same authors note that an earlier estimate from an undergraduate sample was as high as 47%, without extra checks on who truly experienced ASMR (Poerio, Ueda & Kondo, 2022).

A few other patterns have shown up in studies:

• It often starts in childhood. In Barratt and Davis's survey, 241 of 475 people recalled first feeling ASMR between ages 5 and 10, long before they had a word for it (Barratt & Davis, 2015).
• Personality may play a part. In a study of 290 people with ASMR and 290 matched controls (284 and 279 after exclusions), the ASMR group scored higher on openness to experience and neuroticism, and lower on conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness (Fredborg et al., 2017).
• Synesthesia seems more common. In the Japanese study, 21.7% of ASMR responders reported synesthesia (such as seeing colors with sounds), compared with 5.2% of people who did not watch ASMR content (Poerio, Ueda & Kondo, 2022).

If you have tried a few videos and felt nothing, that's normal. Read why some people don't feel ASMR tingles for what to try next.

What does science say about ASMR?

The research is young: the paper its authors called the first investigation of ASMR came out in 2015 (Barratt & Davis, 2015), and most studies since are small or rely on people describing their own experience. Here are the main findings so far.

The first large survey (2015)

Swansea University researchers Emma Barratt and Nick Davis surveyed 475 adults who experience ASMR, recruited through online ASMR groups (Barratt & Davis, 2015). Among them:

• 82% said they used ASMR to help them sleep, and 70% to deal with stress.
• 81% said bedtime was their preferred time to watch.
• 50% said their mood improved even in sessions when they felt no tingles.
• Only 5% used ASMR for sexual stimulation; 84% disagreed with that statement.

The authors note the sample was self-selected, volunteered online and relied on self-report.

Heart rate drops while watching (2018)

At the University of Sheffield, Giulia Poerio and colleagues ran an online study with 1,002 people and a lab study with 110 (Poerio et al., 2018). In the lab, people who experience ASMR had their heart rate drop by an average of about 3.4 beats per minute while watching ASMR videos, compared with a non-ASMR control video, a significantly bigger drop than in people who don't experience it.

Their skin conductance, an indicator of physiological arousal, rose slightly at the same time. People with ASMR also reported feeling both calmer and more excited, and, after spoken videos, more socially connected. The authors read this as a pleasant experience that is calming and activating at once.

What happens in the brain (2018)

In a small fMRI pilot study at Dartmouth College, 10 people pressed a button whenever they felt tingles while watching ASMR clips in a brain scanner (Lochte et al., 2018). During tingles, activity rose in the nucleus accumbens, a region linked to reward, and in the medial prefrontal cortex, the insula and the secondary somatosensory cortex, among other areas.

The authors note that this pattern resembles what happens during social bonding and grooming, which may explain why personal-attention videos feel comforting. They are clear about the limits: a very small sample, no control group and no comparison videos.

What the research does not show

These studies suggest ASMR may help some people relax and wind down. They do not show that ASMR treats insomnia, anxiety disorders or depression, and there are no large clinical trials. For a closer look at what is and isn't known, see the benefits of ASMR.

How ASMR differs from misophonia and frisson

ASMR is often confused with two other strong reactions to sound and music.

ASMR vs misophonia

Misophonia is a decreased tolerance to specific sounds. Chewing, lip smacking, breathing, pen clicking, tapping or typing can trigger anger, disgust, anxiety or irritation (Cleveland Clinic). Some of those sounds are popular ASMR triggers, which is why mouth-sound videos split opinion so sharply.

The two may be linked. In a 2018 study, 64 people who experience ASMR scored higher on a misophonia questionnaire than 68 controls, and the authors suggested the two may sit at opposite ends of the same sound-sensitivity spectrum (Janik McErlean & Banissy, 2018). Context matters too: eating sounds may trigger ASMR in one setting and misophonia in another (Poerio, Ueda & Kondo, 2022).

ASMR vs frisson

Frisson is the chill or goosebump rush some people get from a powerful moment in music. It can feel similar at first, but the body reacts differently. Aesthetic chills have been linked to a higher heart rate, while ASMR was linked to a lower one, and researchers concluded the two are most likely distinct (Poerio et al., 2018).

Brain imaging points the same way. ASMR tingles and musical chills share some active regions, but the medial prefrontal cortex rose during ASMR and has been reported to fall during frisson. People who have felt both describe them as different experiences (Lochte et al., 2018).

How to try ASMR

You don't need anything special, just a quiet moment and a pair of headphones. Many people in Barratt and Davis's survey said they preferred headphones for a sense of depth in the sound (Barratt & Davis, 2015).

1. Pick a calm time. Most people watch in bed or while unwinding, not while multitasking.
2. Start with the most common triggers. Try a whispering video, a tapping video and a personal-attention video.
3. Change one thing at a time. If whispering does nothing, keep the trigger and switch the voice to soft-spoken or no talking. Then try a slower or faster pace.
4. Give each video a few minutes. Tingles often come in waves, and calm can arrive before or without them.
5. Notice what you dislike. A strong "no" to mouth sounds or a certain voice is useful information.
6. Keep a short list of what works. Barratt and Davis noted that some people get used to videos they have already watched, so variety helps.

Tingly Room was built for exactly this. On the video finder, you filter by trigger, mood, voice, pace and length instead of scrolling YouTube, and videos play in YouTube's official player, so the creator still gets the view. The explore feed lets you swipe through a personal mix.

If you mainly want ASMR to help you drift off, our guide on using ASMR to fall asleep covers routines and settings.

When to talk to a doctor

ASMR is a way to relax, not a medical treatment. See a doctor if changing your sleep habits hasn't helped, if you've had trouble sleeping for months, or if poor sleep is making daily life hard to cope with (NHS). The same goes for worry or fear that won't go away and gets in the way of your usual activities (ODPHP).

If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 in the US to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7 (NY State Office of Mental Health).

Sources

1. Beyond tingles: An exploratory qualitative study of the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR), PLOS ONE, 2022
2. An Examination of Personality Traits Associated with Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR), Frontiers in Psychology, 2017
3. More than a feeling: Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is characterized by reliable changes in affect and physiology, PLOS ONE, 2018
4. Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR): a flow-like mental state, PeerJ, 2015
5. Similar but different: High prevalence of synesthesia in autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), Frontiers in Psychology, 2022
6. Increased misophonia in self-reported Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, PeerJ, 2018
7. An fMRI investigation of the neural correlates underlying the autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), BioImpacts, 2018
8. Misophonia: What It Is, Triggers, Symptoms & Treatment, Cleveland Clinic, 2023
9. Insomnia, NHS
10. Talk with Your Doctor About Anxiety, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (MyHealthfinder)
11. 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, New York State Office of Mental Health