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Judging by the fact that my prior mentions of this have been met with confusion when I try to describe it -- literally everyone I've ever expained it to processes it as something sexual when instead it's intensely pleasurable -- I'm guessing this might be an interesting topic. Or a trainwreck. Probably the latter. A bunch of nerds have cobbled together to describe something that happens that I would normally call stupid and a smattering of stupid poo poo to be ignored if I wasn't lucky enough to have it from the first grade. That's not a sarcastic "lucky" in the least, this is something I wish EVERYONE could feel. A classmate that I wouldn't name even if I could remember her because this is the Internet used to have intensely sharp S sounds when she spoke. This is a normal and (as I understand it) completely unheard and unintentional speech impediment. For most, it's ignored, though it will be bled out of them if they go into broadcast for the most part -- especially now -- because sibilant sounds are bad for compression. For me, though, as a wee tyke, it was akin to hearing God in tiny intervals. Speckled around normal conversation, it feels like vocal time bombs; a kinda of paused staccato that shoots white-hot bolts of pure happiness through my entire being. As I will paste in in a second, it's characterized by a few common sensations, and while mine aren't unique in the least, it would appear the triggers for them are: if a woman has a really sibilant S, D or T sound while talking, it kicks. It's automatic, it's uncontrollable, and for a few random moments while on a bus or at the DMV or in some other place that's normally terrible, waves of pure joy cascade down your body every time everyone happens to hit a particular consonant while they talk with their accent/impediment. I've tried to explain this to friends over the years only to be met with blank faces and confused questions that were always completely off the mark. They clearly can't hear it, they don't have it, and I'm a freak. Thankfully, the Internet means I'm not a LONE freak, and a bunch of nerds have tried to make a term for it: Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response Explained as thus: this skepticblog.org person posted:But I have left you waiting long enough – what is ASMR? It is described as a pleasurable and calming tingling sensation in the back of the head. It is often called a brain orgasm, or braingasm (which I think is a bit misleading, since the regular kind of orgasm occurs in the brain with some peripheral manifestations). This experience can be triggered by a variety of odd sensations. The ASMR Research and Support website (you knew that had to exist) gives a list: ASMR is an honestly stupidly over-complex way of saying "it makes my brain tingle," and honestly frustrates me with a need to give it a pseudo-scientific name, but hey, if this is what brain tingling people want to cobble around, I'm game because for 30+ years, I thought I was the only one. Hooray Intertubes. Now I know I'm not, and, worse, I'm a freakshow in a freakshow's freakshow. This is the scary, one-word-because-Freak-Show-is-hyphenated kind of wierded out. The problem? For me, it has been and always will be speech - specially speech I catch randomly from someone that doesn't know they have the "accent" and are just chatting with friends. Nobody else hears it, but for me, for a few moments on the train or something, I'm in a cascading river of tingling bliss. And they they're gone. I don't know them, I don't need to, they just have a sound that turns my brain into molten happiness for a few seconds. Apparently, though, it's not just sounds. People get the joy juice from fingernails, tapping, talking.... and perhaps the worst because it's creepy: whispering. There are a goddamn gajillion whispering videos that frankly creep me out, but maybe that's because it seems treated like a fetish when it's not. At all. Sounds (or I guess actions) lay happy bugs in your brain and then burst and it's honestly the best thing ever. I know, though. People are reticent to be the first to admit something like this. It's not dirty -- gently caress, it's not even sexual. This isn't a kink or a fetish or something to feel ashamed of, but it's either exceptionally rare or people think it's unique to them. Well, it's not. Enough nerds got together and tried to name the brain tingles you've had all your life. Now's the time to try to explain to everyone else why it's so drat awesome. GO!\ SamBishop fucked around with this message at Jul 15, 2012 around 10:36 |
| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:20 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 06:51 |
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Maybe I've missed something, but I don't know what the flying gently caress you're talking about.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:27 |
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This poo poo makes me tingly. And shows me how to fold towels. Feels good man. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogbsIRO7BXs
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:33 |
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So whenever you hear certain sharp consonants being spoken, you feel intense pleasure shocking through your body for a few seconds? That is honestly really weird.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:33 |
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So this is some common human experience that can't really be communicated but you are trying anyway? And it has something to do with liking sounds? Hm. I like it when I'm typing really fast on the keyboard and it sounds like a continuous noise. Does that count? Will this thread be a shitposting joke thread or not? I can't tell.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:36 |
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Two Piece posted:Maybe I've missed something, but I don't know what the flying gently caress you're talking about. Sorry, added that bit I meant to add from a random person that seems to sum it up fairly well. There's not a lot to miss. People get all tingly from weird girls crinkling plastic bags.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:43 |
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I get this too. It feels really good and sounds like when you add milk to rice crispies, except right above my neck. It is usually accompanied by goosebumps. edit - I personally experience this when a sales person is doing a good job at pitching a sale to me. It freaks me out because it makes me think that they know it's happening. rivid fucked around with this message at Jul 15, 2012 around 11:53 |
| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:44 |
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Oh yeah, I get this occasionally. I don't get it as a reaction to speech patterns though, just when something good happens to somebody - like in the end of a movie where it all turns out OK for the protagonist. I've never talked about it, I just sort of assumed everybody had it... Weird.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:47 |
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I get this with some pieces of music, not the whole piece, but sometimes a particular passage really hits me and I get tingles down my spine. Adagio for strings and Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis are two examples. It doesn't have to be classical music, those just happen to be the ones that sprung to mind. If you get that feeling every time somebody says a word with s in it the particular way then you are extremely lucky op.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:47 |
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Psh, that's nothing. Ever abort a sneeze?  Content: Virtual Barber Shop (Long) -- Binaural Audio Demo. Only works well with headphones, though. Closing your eyes helps too. I always thought the sound experiment stuff was neat, but the whole ASMR-crowd as I understand it is obsessed with foreign women whispering. 
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:47 |
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I've always sort of lumped this in with when people say something gives them goosebumps. It isn't the same thing, but still. I do get it, though. Most specifically when I hear a really great part of a really great song.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:49 |
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Lampsacus posted:So this is some common human experience that can't really be communicated but you are trying anyway? And it has something to do with liking sounds? This is pretty much the problem I've had since the first time I've felt it: it's almost impossible to communicate through words because it's a sensation that's entirely non-physical (apparently). I could show you like the odd friend over the years that happens to have sharp S sounds, but I can't really describe it other than it's comfortable and pleasant. It's not dirty or regressive, it's just... happiness that seems to kinda spill out from the brain stem when someone does something. For me, it's when a person says certain sounds. For others, it's when people play with poo poo. To be honest, I find most of the videos online to be creepy, but it confirms that it's a reproducible effect with actual triggers, which actually freaks me out a little. I mean, if this has been in effect since I was like 4, and it's at least shared on a basic level, what the hell IS it?
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:52 |
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I get this too, every time I hit the bong. Weird, right?
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:56 |
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Has anyone done a PET scan of this going on yet, I wonder which part of the brain it affects. Also, now feeling sorry for whatever poor guy gets a wave of intense depression every time he hears a hard b sound.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:58 |
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jazzyhattrick posted:I get this with some pieces of music, not the whole piece, but sometimes a particular passage really hits me and I get tingles down my spine. Siege posted:Oh yeah, I get this occasionally. I don't get it as a reaction to speech patterns though, just when something good happens to somebody - like in the end of a movie where it all turns out OK for the protagonist. These, apparently, are different and are called frisson responses, though I absolutely get that too and it's very similar except the only way I can describe it is that instead of cold sort of making all the hairs stand on end or creating that prickling feeling, it's more like warmth and numbness. The reaction is largely the same; hairs on my head/neck/arms stand up, but it's not a fear sort of response, it's more tingling bliss. Again, broken, I know. jazzyhattrick posted:Has anyone done a PET scan of this going on yet, I wonder which part of the brain it affects. Also, now feeling sorry for whatever poor guy gets a wave of intense depression every time he hears a hard b sound. Near as I can tell, nobody has done poo poo to study it because it wasn't a known thing until tards like me got together and created a lovely made-up acronym for it. The problem is that the reactions as described are universal BEFORE there was common name for it. I guess whatever weirdo "community" that sprung up around it decided a name was important, but the actual sensations are pretty much the same among all that experience it: Tingles in the back of the scalp/brain that slowly spread outward with each successive trigger and become waves that raise hair, produce goosebumps and sends feelings of intense tingling throughout the brain stem, spine and limbs. It feels like waves of pure happiness and is probably a tumor or something. Doom Goon posted:I always thought the sound experiment stuff was neat, but the whole ASMR-crowd as I understand it is obsessed with foreign women whispering. Since it's just a few really small sounds -- and specific ones at that -- it's exceptionally weird to me to try out one of these videos and see people just drumming painted nails or crinkling bags or whispering (jeezus, the whispering is creepiest of all). It makes it all look/sound fetishistic which is (at least for me) the farthest thing from what this is. Literally none of my body is triggered by the response except my skin; it's purely a weird rear end tingling directly in my brain -- which is of course impossible. I don't know the why, but when they eventually study it and find out we're all high-functioning retards, I'm not going to be upset given that 9/10 of these supposed ASMR videos are the equivalent of entertaining a three year-old. I've never, ever argued that it's exceptionally weird, and worse, it's not relatable, which makes it even more insulary. I guess I'm just kinda hoping more people than me are willing to admit it. SamBishop fucked around with this message at Jul 15, 2012 around 11:16 |
| # ? Jul 15, 2012 10:58 |
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I get this too, but not from speech at all. Just from random rear end sounds like a hair dryer or vacuum cleaner. And even then not all the time. I had no idea what it was, but I knew that certain sounds seemed to cause that tingling feeling. I saw a thread somewhere else about it and saw all these stupid whisper videos that did nothing. But then another link led to this YouTube channel where this person does these videos with completely random sounds and most of them really get me. The videos themselves do nothing, but the sounds in a lot of them cause that tingling feeling, especially the binaural audio stuff. http://www.youtube.com/user/SOUNDsculptures Deadpool fucked around with this message at Jul 15, 2012 around 11:41 |
| # ? Jul 15, 2012 11:28 |
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Your explanations suck because I still don't know what the gently caress you're talking about, nor what an "S" or "D" sound is but I think you're trying to tell me sublimally to suck your dick.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 11:33 |
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Is this response related to people getting really freaked out over certain sounds such as nails on a chalkboard, squeaking styrofoam or similar?
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 11:38 |
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I think because hearing is a sense people don't really think about -- people can taste something amazing, feel a soft kitten, or see something beautiful -- that it is hard to explain what it is like the hear something that causes this reaction. I get the ASMR effect from the sound of coins in a jar and similar sounds. I like the videos people put up on Youtube because even if I don't get the tingling sensation, they are always calming and relaxing to listen to before bed.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 11:39 |
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Doom Goon posted:I always thought the sound experiment stuff was neat, but the whole ASMR-crowd as I understand it is obsessed with foreign women whispering. Yeah there's a large group that really really wants it to be a sexual thing for some reason, even though it's not. I don't know why they don't just go watch some porn.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 11:42 |
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jazzyhattrick posted:Has anyone done a PET scan of this going on yet, I wonder which part of the brain it affects. Also, now feeling sorry for whatever poor guy gets a wave of intense depression every time he hears a hard b sound. PET scans of the brain trace where blood flow is going. Off the bat, the fact that this is a tingly feeling means that this phenomena isn't in the brain at all, which has no nerves. I m not sure how doing a PET scan of the whole body would help either (although I only know about PET scans in relation to the brain). Also this ASMR phenomena has a wide variety of stimuli that triggers the event, and probably is different in each subject. Using different stimuli in any experiment would leave you with messy data, and almost certainly skew results, if any. Throw on top of that the price of owning and operating a PET machine. It is possible that the ASMR/tingly feeling/whatever could have to do with the nervous system because it moves up the spine, but I still wont be surprised if this never gets picked up for an experiment so big any time soon, just because of how little there is to work off of. Before jumping to anything like pet scans the best thing to do would have subjects listen or watch something and then ask them if they experience any physical sensations afterwards. rivid fucked around with this message at Jul 15, 2012 around 11:56 |
| # ? Jul 15, 2012 11:45 |
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I have been experiencing this since I was very young, and have been seeking out things that trigger it long before the community for it sprouted up on the internet. Getting massages, people playing with my hair, somebody explaining very carefully but also subtly how to do something or how something works, and a lot of other things, trigger this feeling in my scalp. I have never met anyone else in real life who experiences it. It's hard to communicate it to somebody who doesn't experience it, but people who do experience it, know exactly what you are talking about pretty much right off the bat. This is probably one of the best videos on the internet I've found for it. It's a little harsh at times, but just sitting down and watching that, it's really great. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6zVFSOBTIs Seconding OP, a lot of people mistake ASMR for frisson. They sound similar when described, but the feeling is very very different.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 11:48 |
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let it go dude, hail satan
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I know EXACTLY what you're talking about, and I get it from lectures. Not all lectures, but especially calm male voices telling me things makes me completely space out and lose track of what's even being said to me. Great for guided meditation videos since those are almost all calm, male voices, but absolute poo poo for history class. I GUESS I can see how it could be fetishized in the sense that it's not a BAD feeling, and is definitely something I've tried to intentionally trigger before. Then again my "trigger" is something really easy to come across, and not something so specific, like crinkling bags. Edit: ^^^^^^ That video did it too. Probably explains why I watch How It's Made for hours some days.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 11:48 |
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This sounds like the feeling i get sometimes when listening to very... hell, what do you call it? Intense? Soothing? Feh, some specific passages of sound/music can put me in an almost trancelike state within moments, simply a feeling of floating and falling at the same time while feeling at peace. Odd thing about it is that i also get that feeling when i get my teeth cleaned at the dentist. 
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 11:53 |
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Little Miss RKO posted:Edit: ^^^^^^ That video did it too. Probably explains why I watch How It's Made for hours some days. Bob Ross.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 11:54 |
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rivid posted:Bob Ross. Hell loving yes. But then he goes and cleans off his brush, totally harshing my mellow. >(
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 11:56 |
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Ssthalar posted:This sounds like the feeling i get sometimes when listening to very... hell, what do you call it? Intense? Soothing? Feh, some specific passages of sound/music can put me in an almost trancelike state within moments, simply a feeling of floating and falling at the same time while feeling at peace. The first part of your post I would describe as frisson, but the second part is definitely ASMR. Are the two feelings very similar to you, and if so, could you provide a sample of some of the music that triggers it for you? I've never really encountered music that triggers ASMR 
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 12:00 |
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I think you're describing the same sensation I occasionally get, but for me it only ever happens after I've had a few drinks. It doesn't happen very often for me, maybe a few times a year. I'd always assumed it was just the alcohol, so it never occurred to me that there might be some other trigger at work. Guess I'll have to start paying attention next time it happens.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 12:02 |
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I get this too. It's weird to me that people get so passionate about it. I agree the whole internet pseudo-science does it no help. But It's not like it's Aspergers. It's just some pleasant reaction to seeming random stimuli. What's strange for me is that I don't get it in reaction to any physical input. I get in most intensely when someone I barry know or suspect reaches out to me for some reason. It has nothing to do with sound or touch. It might be an email or phone call out of the blue. In the end, it's not a big deal. I think it's cool but it's not magic. And it's not some internet phenomenon.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 12:19 |
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I always figured it was my brain releasing endorphins or something like that. I get it frequently and I can usually prolong it for a few seconds, but I don't go seeking it out. It's just nice when it happens.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 12:35 |
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Oh yeah, the tingly brain thing. I get this sometimes from haircuts or in conversations with people who are slowly explaining something to me. Or, like Ape of Naples said, if a stranger tries to connect with me out of the blue. I've never mentioned it to anyone, because it would sound really weird and sexual, even though that doesn't seem to play a part. I can just imagine how awkward it would be to tell some random Unicef volunteer that the conversation "feels really good, like tingling in my head, maaaaan."  It would be nice if there was some actual research on this and not just a creepy youtube community. Edit: While we're on this topic, could someone please explain why whatever I'm doing becomes more interesting and engaging if I need to take a crap? It's not unlike the buzz from a cup of coffee, except it disappears as soon as I'm done pooping. Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at Jul 15, 2012 around 12:51 |
| # ? Jul 15, 2012 12:38 |
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Dude, I know how you feel. It's like that feeling I get when I turn to a radio station and "Call Me Maybe" is playing. Especially if it's just started. Oh man, I love that song 
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 12:45 |
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I think I understand what you mean but I always thought that was just me liking stuff. Is liking stuff a disorder now?
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 12:54 |
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Warchicken posted:I think I understand what you mean but I always thought that was just me liking stuff. Is liking stuff a disorder now? Well, it's not a disorder. It's just a thing that happens to some people. It's beyond just liking stuff. It happens to me maybe once a week at most and only for very specific reasons. I like stuff but it doesn't happen then. I'm sure there's some simple biological reason it happens. It's like getting goosebumps and that's not a disorder either. Just a reaction. Feels good man.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 13:01 |
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Little Miss RKO posted:I know EXACTLY what you're talking about, and I get it from lectures. Not all lectures, but especially calm male voices telling me things makes me completely space out and lose track of what's even being said to me. Go watch some Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. I watch with my daughter and it's so soothing I want to fall asleep.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 13:30 |
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I've gotten this since I was a kid, pretty much exclusively when someone is explaining something in a one on one conversation. I always thought it had something to do with sound until I experienced it once during an IM conversation. It's definitely not sexual. I never know who is going to trigger it and I feel sort of guilty when I try to prolong an explanation so it keeps going. I attempted to explain it to someone once and they had no idea what I was talking about, so it's good to hear I'm not insane.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 13:36 |
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Not sure how far this thread will go but for the record, I get this. Hair cuts, Bob Ross, other weird poo poo. I think your explainations are about as good as can be expected, but if you don't get it it's probably imposslbe to describe because it's so arbitrary what can be a trigger.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 13:38 |
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It isn't sexual, but it can be a lot more pronounced when it is coming from somebody that is attractive to you.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 13:45 |
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Is this like when I get a jolt out of squeezing the back of my neck or is that the frisson thing? I got a vaguely similar pulsing sensation starting from my back, traveling up my spine to the top of my head, which was very pleasant, when I used to take too much Benadryl to fall asleep. I always assumed that was the "brain zaps" some antidepressant users report except that they always seem to complain about what they experienced. The neat thing was that for several weeks after I quit using antihistamines as a sleep aid I could still trigger the sensation by mentally focusing on my spine and the memory of what it felt like. I'm curious as to whether I could replicate this through substance-free meditation. Disclaimer: don't take antihistamines for this effect. The side-effects of overuse/extended recurrent use are not worth it.
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| # ? Jul 15, 2012 13:46 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 06:51 |
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 Holy poo poo, other people experience this too? I've felt this exact same sensation since I was kid. My first memories of it occurring where in the car. Going down a gentle slop of a hill or sometimes an elevator would bring on the tingles. But I really get it bad when I watch people doing things, especially massages. Watching someone getting a massage just makes my brain melt. The other listed triggers work on me to varying degrees. I never, ever told anyone before because I thought people would think I'm weird, freakish or perverted. It isn't sexual pleasure at all, though I can see how some people could fetishize it pretty easily. And no, it isn't really like a drug high. It isn't a 'dulling' pleasure where sensations smear in a chemical cocktail. This feels like your nerves cascade like they are oscillating in harmony. vandalism posted:This poo poo makes me tingly. And shows me how to fold towels. Feels good man. This would work a lot better if it weren't for her constant lip smacking and popping. Maybe if I turn off the sound and listen to some music instead. Berk Berkly fucked around with this message at Jul 15, 2012 around 13:57 |
| # ? Jul 15, 2012 13:51 |
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