Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The gentle, muffled female voice coming over the Internet or television can have a stunning effect.

Suffering from insomnia as a result of some depression and trying to find my way out one sleepless night I stumbled onto a strange and interesting video clip. Story was somewhat absurd but it was the voice that got to me. I did not care much for the story the voice grab my attention in a very significant manner.

It intrigued me and pushed me to look further for similar videos as I discovered that this became some sort of therapy. I later found out that this is called ASMR or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response.

I then began to notice that certain voices had a tingling effect on me. Coming across such voices gave me a sense of profound happiness.

The instigator of ASMR is Jennifer Allen (alias Envelope Nomia) who created a group on Facebook in 2010. There are no scientific studies on this psychological phenomenon. However one can find numerous videos and audios about ASMR on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watchv=_haPLEHgh8Y&index=11&list=UU6gLlIAnzg7eJ8VuXDCZ_vg)

You can also find videos on various topics such as role-playing games, simulation haircuts, whispering, scratching or even tapping fingernails on a wooden board. There seems to be something for every taste. For better effects they usually use technologies delivering the tingles often in a 3-D microphone.

Many of the people with whom I shared this information did not experience the same feelings I did and could not understand how I could spend 20 minutes just watching a video of somebody typing fingers on the board on glass or pretend to get a makeover.

This is not something that all people will appreciate. Some may even find it annoying or even ridiculous.

But for others it offers a refreshing feeling at times soporific, hypnotic and even addictive, offering a sort of massage of the mind, helping cure insomnia, anxiety and panic attacks.