Research pick: ASMR alerts for older adults - "Autonomous sensory meridian response as an alert trigger for older users"

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a neurological phenomenon experienced in different ways by different people exposed to various stimuli. It is commonly perceived as a pleasant, almost euphoric, feeling. Often described simply as a tingling sensation, paresthesia, it can be much more subtle. Indeed, it is often referred to as “the tingles”. The experience of this pleasurable feeling often leaves the person feeling relaxed or alert, depending on the specific stimulus.

Commonly it is felt in the scalp and is often perceived as travelling down the back of the neck and the upper spine. These pleasant feelings are often triggered by certain types of sound, such as a person whispering very closely in one’s ear or when seeing certain images. However, it can also be triggered by realizations or epiphanies or when one recognizes pleasure in others, sometimes even when one recognizes one has done a good deed, for instance.

ASMR is a complex phenomenon and in recent years has been used in millions of videos or music where the creator produces content intended to trigger ASMR in the viewer or listener. Indeed, people do often describe music as giving them “the chills”, but in the pleasurable sense as opposed to the edgier notion of fear and anxiety associated with a “shiver down the spine”. One has to wonder whether these are two faces of the same coin in terms of neurology, however. There is overlap with the concept of frisson, goose bumps and related phenomena. And, of course, goosebumps can also be triggered by pleasure or fear, and perhaps other emotions arising in response to particular stimuli.

Superficially, the phenomenon may seem frivolous, but it perhaps points to how bonding in mammals and other animal groups is reinforced by interactions undertaken in close proximity such as grooming and petting between social contacts, family members, and mates. In the context of interactions between mates, the putatively erotic nature of particular kinds of ASMR triggers is certainly well-known to researchers and those on the internet who might utilize this phenomenon.

Writing in the International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics, a team from Thailand has looked at whether ASMR can have a practical use in helping older people, particularly those with age-related hearing loss. Nattanit Buaban and Sakol Teeravarunyou of King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Bangkok, suggest ASMR might be used to grab the attention of someone to alert them to a notification from a device, whether doorbell, smartphone, kettle, washing machine, or alarm, that they otherwise might not notice or hear. In their experiments, an earphone device was used to trigger ASMR, but they added that a touch, haptic, device might also be used. It is early stages, but the team’s practical concept for ASMR holds much promise for older people with hearing loss who could, with appropriate smart devices, be notified in this novel way to changes requiring their attention.

Buaban, N. and Teeravarunyou, S. (2022) ‘Autonomous sensory meridian response as an alert trigger for older users’, Int. J. Human Factors and Ergonomics, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp.389–401.