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How to Design ASMR-Inspired Experiences
The popular sensory experience could help trigger users’ delight
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) refers to a tingling, or at least pleasant, sensation some people feel when they hear sounds that are best described as soft scraping, tapping, or rustling. Most commonly, these sounds are something like the gravelly tone of a whispering human voice, two sheets of paper slipping past each other, soft tapping on a something hollow, a plastic bag being crumpled, or just about anything similar that can be recorded through a microphone placed extremely close to the sound source. But ASMR can also be triggered by something tactile, like peeling the protective plastic off of a brand-new television screen; or visual, like the movement of hands or lips.
For some people (not me, admittedly), ASMR is purported to be audiovisual bliss, delivering an opioid-like rush to the listener or viewer—perhaps it’s the other side of the nails-on-a-chalkboard coin. In any case, the explosive growth of video content tagged with #ASMR on social sites has led to a lot of questions about its triggers, benefits, risks, and long-term social impact. Interestingly, the Chinese government became so concerned that it banned the posting (or at least tagging) of ASMR videos entirely over concerns that the content was pornographic — which I have to assume means someone in the Chinese government really enjoys ASMR videos.
How popular is ASMR?
A Google search for the term “ASMR video” returns more than 98 million results. Digging a bit deeper into Google Trends, we see interest growing at an accelerating rate globally. Obviously, there’s a great and growing segment of the population that (unlike me) is finding a deep connection to the subject matter.
