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Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a multisensory experience most often associated with feelings of relaxation and altered consciousness, elicited by stimuli which include whispering, repetitive movements, and close personal attention. Since 2015, ASMR research has grown rapidly, spanning disciplines from neuroscience to media studies but lacking a collaborative or interdisciplinary approach. To build a cohesive and connected structure for ASMR research moving forwards, a modified Delphi study was conducted with ASMR experts, practitioners, community members, and researchers from various disciplines. Ninety-eight participants provided 451 suggestions for ASMR research priorities which were condensed into 13 key areas: (1) Definition, conceptual clarification, and measurement of ASMR; (2) Origins and development of ASMR; (3) Neurophysiology of ASMR; (4) Understanding ASMR triggers; (5) Factors affecting the likelihood of experiencing/eliciting ASMR; (6) ASMR and individual/cultural differences; (7) ASMR and the senses; (8) ASMR and social intimacy; (9) Positive and negative consequences of ASMR in the general population; (10) Therapeutic applications of ASMR in clinical contexts; (11) Effects of long-term ASMR use; (12) ASMR platforms and technology; (13) ASMR community, culture, and practice. These were voted on by 70% of the initial participant pool using best/worst scaling methods. The resulting agenda provides a clear map for ASMR research to enable new and existing researchers to orient themselves towards important questions for the field and to inspire interdisciplinary collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Introduction Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major health concern worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The COVID-19 pandemic that emerged in late 2019 may have had an impact on the trend of CVD mortality. This study aimed to investigate the trend and changes in CVD mortality rates in Malaysia, using age-standardized mortality rates (ASMR) from 2010 to 2021. Methods The Malaysian population and mortality data from 2010 to 2021 were obtained from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM). ASMRs from CVD per 100,000 population were calculated based on the World Health Organization (2000–2025) standard population using the direct method. The ASMRs were computed based on sex, age groups (including premature mortality age, 30–69 years), and CVD types. The annual percent change (APC) and average annual percent change (AAPC) of the ASMR with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated from joinpoint regression model using the Joinpoint Regression Program, Version 4.9.1.0. Results Throughout the study period (2010–2021), ASMRs for CVD exhibited an increase from 93.1 to 147.0 per 100,000, with an AAPC of 3.6% (95% CI: 2.1 to 5.2). The substantial increase was observed between 2015 and 2018 (APC 12.6%, 95% CI: 5.4%, 20.3%), with significant changes in both sexes, and age groups 50–69, 70 years and over, and 30–69 (premature mortality age). Notably, the ASMR trend remained consistently high in the premature mortality age group across other age groups, with males experiencing higher rates than females. No significant changes were detected before or after the COVID-19 pandemic (between 2019 and 2021), except for females who died from IHD (10.3% increase) and those aged 0–4 (25.2% decrease). Conclusion Overall, our analysis highlights the persistently high burden of CVD mortality in Malaysia, particularly among the premature mortality age group. These findings underscore the importance of continued efforts to address CVD risk factors and implement effective prevention and management strategies. Further research is needed to fully understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on CVD mortality rates and to inform targeted interventions to reduce the burden of CVD in Malaysia.

Plantcare is having a moment. Recent years have seen an outpouring of audiovisual content across several social media platforms, wherein humans film and photograph themselves taking care of houseplants. These self-proclaimed “plant moms” build community through their shared passion for caring for houseplants and showing this form of tree-hugging to a wider community. In this contribution, I theorize this plant-filled digital terrain as a virtual greenhouse, a space where humans can perform with and show off their collections of houseplants. This virtual greenhouse points to how plantcare becomes a space to play with expectations of humanness apart from human–animal boundaries. Furthermore, contrary to notions of plants as being silent or inaudible lifeforms, this virtual greenhouse is rich with music and sound. Following an exploration of the overarching features of plantcare content and other kinds of digital human–nonhuman representations, I describe how creators in the virtual greenhouse use ASMR-like techniques, acousmatic narration, and reinterpretations of popular music to make their intimate relationships with nonhuman life audible. This contribution demonstrates how these human–plant assemblages engage with a “back-to-nature” environmentalism and present opportunities to reframe human–nonhuman relationships through creative practice.

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major health concern worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The COVID-19 pandemic that emerged in late 2019 may have had an impact on the trend of CVD mortality. This study aimed to investigate the trend and changes in CVD mortality rates in Malaysia, using age-standardized mortality rates (ASMR) from 2010 to 2021. Methods: The Malaysian population and mortality data from 2010 to 2021 were obtained from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM). ASMRs from CVD per 100,000 population were calculated based on the World Health Organization (2000–2025) standard population using the direct method. The ASMRs were computed based on sex, age groups (including premature mortality age, 30–69 years), and CVD types. The annual percent change (APC) and average annual percent change (AAPC) of the ASMR with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated from joinpoint regression model using the Joinpoint Regression Program, Version 4.9.1.0. Results: Throughout the study period (2010–2021), ASMRs for CVD exhibited an increase from 93.1 to 147.0 per 100,000, with an AAPC of 3.6% (95% CI: 2.1 to 5.2). The substantial increase was observed between 2015 and 2018 (APC 12.6%, 95% CI: 5.4%, 20.3%), with significant changes in both sexes, and age groups 50–69, 70 years and over, and 30–69 (premature mortality age). Notably, the ASMR trend remained consistently high in the premature mortality age group across other age groups, with males experiencing higher rates than females. No significant changes were detected before or after the COVID-19 pandemic (between 2019 and 2021), except for females who died from IHD (10.3% increase) and those aged 0–4 (25.2% decrease). Conclusion: Overall, our analysis highlights the persistently high burden of CVD mortality in Malaysia, particularly among the premature mortality age group. These findings underscore the importance of continued efforts to address CVD risk factors and implement effective prevention and management strategies. Further research is needed to fully understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on CVD mortality rates and to inform targeted interventions to reduce the burden of CVD in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay develops a theory of Mika Rottenberg's video art by attending to both the content her work represents (neoliberalism's logic of gendered labor) and the formal characteristics by which her art affects (sensibly drawing the viewer in while resisting assimilation into conceptual critique). Rottenberg's art flirts with a logic of cognitive mapping by suggesting the structures of global production and gendered labor that characterize our neoliberal world order. Through editing and documentary-like international filming, her works suture seemingly disparate locations and activities within an international division of labor. At the same time, her art is neither didactic nor a means to gain abstract, maplike vision of the networked global production system. Rottenberg's art disorients the viewer through pleasurable, haptic, and nonsensical proximities that provide a felt sense of enmeshment within the viewing experience. Rottenberg's art recasts what we might understand not only as the political affectiveness of contemporary art but also the role of aesthetics within feminist practice and critique. This theory of political aesthetics privileges the value of sensible revitalization found in the encounter with art, while departing from established (left) expectations that art's most pressing political relevance is in its ability to raise consciousness or perform critique. This article builds this argument by moving in detail through three of Rottenberg's recent videos: NoNoseKnows (2015), Cosmic Generator (2017), and Spaghetti Blockchain (2019–24). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, sound artist Julie Rose Bower examines the relationship between the Foley 'cloth pass' and the 'fabric sounds' autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) trigger. Starting with Serres's sensory appraisal that 'the world is a mass of laundry' the tactile qualities of cloth are proposed as a key component in accounting for the 'felt rather than heard' status of Foley sound. Writing from a practitioner perspective, Bower argues for textile manipulation as a form of embodied sound design and cloth sounds as a curiously generative media object. Through theorizing developments in the scope of attention within screen cultures, Bower develops a speculative ontology of soft glitch and conceptualizes a politics of folded listening. Alongside accounts of sound practice from industry Foley artists Vanessa Theme Ament (Die Hard, Edward Scissorhands), Joanna Fang (Sony PlayStation) and from her own ASMR work using costume and textiles (ASMR at the Museum for the Victoria and Albert Museum [V&A]), Bower argues for cloth sounds as transcendent cyberfeminist technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Public Relations & Advertising Studies / Uluslararası Halkla İlişkiler ve Reklam Çalışmaları Dergisi is the property of International Journal of Public Relations & Advertising Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

"Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response" (ASMR) refers to a sensory‐emotional experience that was first explicitly identified and named within the past two decades in online discussion boards. Since then, there has been mounting psychological and neural evidence of a clustering of properties common to the phenomenon of ASMR, including convergence on the set of stimuli that trigger the experience, the properties of the experience itself, and its downstream effects. Moreover, psychological instruments have begun to be developed and employed in an attempt to measure it. Based on this empirical work, we make the case that despite its nonscientific origins, ASMR is a good candidate for being a real kind in the cognitive sciences. The phenomenon appears to have a robust causal profile and may also have an adaptive evolutionary history. We also argue that a more thorough understanding of the distinctive type of phenomenal experience involved in an ASMR episode can shed light on the functions of consciousness, and ultimately undermine certain "cognitive" theories of consciousness. We conclude that ASMR should be the subject of more extensive scientific investigation, particularly since it may also have the potential for therapeutic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a complex sensory-perceptual phenomenon characterised by relaxing and pleasurable scalp-tingling sensations. The ASMR trait is nonuniversal, thought to have developmental origins, and a prevalence rate of 20%. Previous theory and research suggest that trait ASMR may be underlined by atypical multisensory perception from both interoceptive and exteroceptive modalities. In this study, we examined whether ASMR responders differed from nonresponders in interoceptive accuracy and multisensory processing style. Results showed that ASMR responders had lower interoceptive accuracy but a greater tendency towards sensation seeking, especially for tactile, olfactory, and gustatory modalities. Exploratory mediation analyses suggest that sensation-seeking behaviours in trait ASMR could reflect a compensatory mechanism for either deficits in interoceptive accuracy, a tendency to weight exteroceptive signals more strongly, or both. This study provides the foundations for understanding how interoceptive and exteroceptive mechanisms might explain not only the ASMR trait, but also individual differences in the ability to experience complex positive emotions more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the contrastive analysis of selected recipes represented in various media, such as cookbooks, television culinary shows and ASMR videos, this article seeks to provide an overview of numerous roles, ranging from informative through performative to artistic-aesthetic, which sound plays in contexts of transmitting culinary knowledge and depicting culinary skills. In line with the findings of sound studies, phenomenology, and postphenomenology, the authors aim to present both the material dimension of sound, mainly brought to existence by the techniques and technologies used and its aesthetic-artistic dimension actualized in a performative act. In this article, it has been demonstrated, following Maurice Merleau-Ponty's and Melissa Van Drie's observations, that sensory experiences in culinary contexts are always intertwined, and "listening, like cooking, is multisensorial." While this research draws primarily on the concepts developed within the field of sound studies, it is interdisciplinary in nature and can be situated within the academic fields of culinary history and food studies, history of everyday life, and philosophy of technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Donglei Shi,* Li Wei,* Hongsen Liang, Dongqing Yan, Junhang Zhang, Zhaojun Wang Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, 518107, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Zhaojun Wang, Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, 518107, People’s Republic of China, Email wangzhj55@mail.sysu.edu.cnBackground: Malaria remains a substantial concern in the realm of public health on a worldwide level. Using information from the global burden of disease (GBD) 2019 for 204 countries and territories between 1990 and 2019, we assessed the burden of malaria.Methods: Data on malaria were derived from the GBD 2019 study between 1990 and 2019. We evaluated the number of incidence, deaths, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), age-standardized incidence rates (ASIR), age-standardized mortality rates (ASMR), and age-standardized DALY rates (ASDR), examining them across variables such as age, year, gender, country, region, and socio-demographic index (SDI).Results: The burden of malaria decreased globally between 1990 and 2019. There were 2313.57× 105 incident cases and 6.43× 105 deaths in 2019, contributing to 464.38× 105 DALYs. Largest incident cases were observed in Western Sub-Saharan Africa [1151.72 (95% UI: 890.01– 1527.17)] × 105 in 2019. The only region where deaths increased between 1990 and 2019 was Western Sub-Saharan Africa. ASRs of malaria are distributed heterogeneously in different regions. The highest ASIR was observed in Central Sub-Saharan Africa [21,557.65 (95% UI: 16,639.4– 27,491.48)] in 2019. From 1990 to 2019, the ASMR of malaria declined. Compared to other age cohorts, the ASIR, ASMR, and ASDR for children aged between 1 to 4 years were found to be higher. Worst-affected regions by malaria infection were the low-middle SDI region and low SDI region.Conclusion: Malaria threatens global public health, especially in Central Sub-Saharan Africa and Western Sub-Saharan Africa. Children 1– 4 years old continue to bear the most significant burden of malaria. The study’s results will guide efforts to reduce malaria’s impact on the global population.Keywords: malaria, global burden of disease, ASIR, ASMR, ASDR

BackgroundAutonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a sensory response such as tingling and pleasantness from audiovisual stimuli. ASMR videos come in a wide variety of types, and personal preferences are biased. There are many reports of the effects os ASMR on sleep onset, anxiety relief, and other relaxation effects. However, prior task-oriented studies have used ASMR videos provided by the experimenter. We hypothesized that ASMR movies of a personal preference would show significantly increased activity in the nucleus accumbens, frontal cortex, and insular cortex, which are brain areas associated with relaxation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to elucidate the neuroscientific basis for the relaxation effects of ASMR videos that match someone’s personal preferences.MethodsThis study included 30 healthy individuals aged ≥18 years. ASMR enthusiasts were included as the target population due to the need to have a clear preference for ASMR videos. A control video (1 type) and ASMR videos (20 types) were used as the stimulus tasks. Among the ASMR videos, those with high and low evaluation scores were considered liked and dislikedASMR videos, respectively. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed while the participants viewed a block design with a resting task in between. The data were analyzed using Statistical Parametric Mapping 12 to identify the areas activated by control, disliked, and liked ASMR videos.ResultsEmotion-related areas (the amygdala, frontal cortex, and insular cortex) not activated by control and unliked ASMR videos were activated only by liked ASMR videos.ConclusionThe amygdala, frontal cortex, and insular cortex may be involved in the limbic dopamine circuits of the amygdala and middle frontal gyrus and the autonomic balance of the left and right insular cortices. This suggests the potential of positive mood and its use as a treatment for patients with anxiety and depression. These results suggest that the use of ASMR videos to match individual preferences may induce relaxation and have beneficial effects on depression and other disorders, and also support the introduction of ASMR videos in mental health care.

This article analyzes the representation of depression in Billie Eilish's music and reception as reflective of its complex status in the West as a clinical diagnosis and lived experience, and considers the prominence of depression in contemporary pop as an aesthetic category dividing along generational, gendered, and racial lines. By claiming and musicalizing depression amid a polarizing reception, Eilish builds on a musical legacy of feminine psychological disturbance, challenging the stigmatization of "madness" in women and cultural panic over the prevalence of depression among Generation Z. Her music demystifies an invisible inner turmoil that her fans identify as "depression," just as they frame her signature whisper singing as a coherent marker of and antidote for depression. Links between Eilish's voice and the feminized auditory triggers of ASMR (a homemade sound-effects-based genre of audio-visual performance on YouTube) and the immersive, solitary listening characteristic of headphone and earbud use strengthen her music's appeal as a form of "mood regulation." Ultimately, Eilish's voice and body are the locus onto which fans and detractors project fantasies and anxieties about the generational, gendered, and racial dynamics of depression that often exceed the singer's stated aims as well as psychiatric definitions of clinical depression. Drawing on work in disability studies, Mad studies, and feminist media studies, I stake out new theoretical ground for analyzing depression in pop as distinct from the lived experiences and discursive logics of disability and madness, while positioning pop music as a creative site of public mental health discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Theatralia is the property of Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

On July 5, 2019, French composer, poet, and publisher Félicia Atkinson released an experimental album titled The Flower and the Vessel. On September 16, 2019, the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, Missouri, opened the exhibition Susan Philipsz: Seven Tears. By reflecting on these two contemporary sonic events through the lens of affect theory, this essay aims to explore the embodied experience of absence.

Autonomous sensory meridian response is believed as a perceptual phenomenon to specific sensory stimuli. To explore the underlying mechanism and emotional effect, the EEG under video and audio triggers of autonomous sensory meridian response was analyzed. The differential entropy and power spectral density by Burg method on $\delta $ , $\theta $ , $\alpha $ , $\beta $ , $\gamma $ and high $\gamma $ frequencies were employed as quantitative features. The results indicate that the modulation of autonomous sensory meridian response on brain activities is broadband. Video trigger owns better performance of autonomous sensory meridian response than other triggers. Moreover, the results also reveal that autonomous sensory meridian response has a close relationship with neuroticism and its three sub-dimensions, anxiety, self-consciousness and vulnerability, with the scores of self-rating depression scale, but without emotions, happiness, sadness, or fear. This suggests that the responders of autonomous sensory meridian response may have the tendencies of neuroticism and depressive disorder.

Introduction: The Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a combination of sensory phenomena involving electrostatic-like tingling sensations, which emerge in response to certain stimuli. Despite the overwhelming popularity of ASMR in the socialmedia, no open source databases on ASMR related stimuli are yet available, which makes this phenomenon mostly inaccessible to the research community; thus, almost completely unexplored. In this regard, we present the ASMR Whispered-Speech (ASMR-WS) database. Methods: ASWR-WS is a novel database on whispered speech, specifically tailored to promote the development of ASMR-like unvoiced Language Identification (unvoiced-LID) systems. The ASMR-WS database encompasses 38 videos-for a total duration of 10 h and 36 min-and includes seven target languages (Chinese, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish). Along with the database, we present baseline results for unvoiced-LID on the ASMR-WS database. Results: Our best results on the seven-class problem, based on segments of 2s length, and on a CNN classifier and MFCC acoustic features, achieved 85.74% of unweighted average recall and 90.83% of accuracy. Discussion: For future work, we would like to focus more deeply on the duration of speech samples, as we see varied results with the combinations applied herein. To enable further research in this area, the ASMR-WS database, as well as the partitioning considered in the presented baseline, is made accessible to the research community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ASMR, an online phenomenon comprising videos in which a performer employs technologically processed sounds to evoke a pleasurable, tingling sensation in the viewer and foster a sense of intimacy has been rapidly gaining popularity in recent years, with its aesthetic increasingly adopted in popular music. The paper investigates one example of such imbrication, Zaumne's album, Emo Dub (2018), which samples voices from ASMR videos, transforming them into disembodied intensities, detached from their original context. As such, Zaumne's music goes beyond either merely incorporating aspects of ASMR, or deconstructing it in a critical fashion; instead, it modulates its affective potential for affording mediated intimacy. Consequently, drawing on the concepts of networked affect and assemblages, the paper argues that Zaumne's music exhibits a form of posthuman intimacy that does not pertain to relations between subjects, but rather to attunement with the impersonal dynamic of digital networks: the constant circulation of content, and the random and contingent affective encounters that produce transpersonal identities and subjectivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I propose an anthropological framework for the analysis of sociocultural bounds between pleasure and whispering. To do so, I focus on the cultural practice of listening to online videos called ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) as an assisted sensibility that aimsto elicit pleasurable sensations through whispering and other light sounds. Although the pleasure in whispering refers to an individual experience, the attention to different sensory and sensual practices based on whispering reveals the implications of sonorities in contemporary culturalsensorium, their technological mediations and how they modulate identities, relationships and politics. The phenomenological, sensorial and vocal analysis of social practicesthrough this sonority gives us an account of pleasure as a sensorial disposition where intimacy and memory manifest themselves as sonorous affects and situated vibratory processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how digital intimacy is construed through ambient embodied copresence in 'personal attention' role play videos, a type of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) video that has become popular on YouTube. ASMR is the experience of positive sensations in response to visual and aural stimuli. Online video sharing platforms have provided a way for people who experience these ASMR sensations to watch, produce, and disseminate ASMR-invoking material. In ASMR role play videos the YouTuber constructs a conceit (e.g. a beautician visit) and uses visual and aural resources to encourage the feeling in the ambient viewers that they are there with the YouTuber experiencing the interaction. This article considers how these videos forge an immersive faux-interactional context, and invoke the visual and aural perspectives and embodiment of ambient viewers. The dataset explored is a playlist of 116 role play videos from the GentleWhispering ASMR YouTube channel, the most popular ASMR channel at the time of writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have examined autonomous sensory meridian responses (ASMRs) focusing on known experiencers and the nuances surrounding those occurrences. This exploratory study was developed in response to existing ASMR research focusing on individuals who were not necessarily known ASMR experiencers. My goal was to better understand whether these synesthesial responses affected a student's education. There were no statistical differences among participants. However, more students responded that they experienced a reaction to specific sounds but did not believe they experienced ASMR. In open-ended responses, the primary themes surrounded empathy, resources, and negative perceptions as the response to the impact of ASMR on education and benefits offered through disability resource center (DRC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the peculiarities of the functioning of the rhetorical figure hypotyposis in an atypical for its nature type of the text - a heterogeneous screen text. The relevance of the study is determined by the supremacy of such texts in modern communication and their increasing influence on the formation of public opinion, including the use of implicit manipulations, constructed by rhetorical means. The aim of this article is to examine means of constructing hypotyposis in heterogeneous screen texts. ASMR-videos published on the online platform YouTube were chosen as the research material. Descriptive techniques (observation; generalization; interpretation of observation results; classification; analysis; synthesis; comparison), contextual and distributive analysis, as well as functional-pragmatic analysis were chosen as the research methods. The following results were found in the course of the study. In heterogeneous screen texts, in particular ASMR-videos, the hypotyposis is constructed on the basis of metonymic and metaphorical connection arising between the verbal and non-verbal units in the course of their constellation in the screen “speech”. It is regulated by the analytical synaesthetic code, which has a number of subcodes: auditory-visual, visual-auditory, visual-tactile and visual-objective. The use of hypotyposis in ASMR screen texts “depicts” the invisible - the viewer-recipient experiences certain perceptual sensations from stimuli that do not really exist - a simulation of reality. Besides, a semiotic “nest doll” of codes allows to control the consciousness of the spectator-recipient, creating fascination. This article is aimed at students, graduate students, teachers, linguists, philologists, and anyone else interested in general and linguistic semiotics.

Background: Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is the sensation of tingling from audiovisual stimuli that leads to positive emotions. ASMR is used among young people to relax, induce sleep, reduce stress, and alleviate anxiety. However, even without experiencing tingling, ASMR is used by many young people to seek relaxation. Auditory stimulation in ASMR is thought to play the most important role among its triggers, and previous studies have used a mixture of auditory and visual stimulation and auditory stimulation. This is the first study to approach the differences between the effects of direct audiovisual and auditory stimulation from the perspective of brain function using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and to clarify the effects of ASMR, which attracts many young people. Methods: The subjects were 30 healthy subjects over 19 years old or older who had not experienced tingling. Brain function was imaged by fMRI while watching ASMR videos or listening to the sound files only. We administered a questionnaire based on a Likert scale to determine if the participants felt a "relaxed mood" and "tingling mood" during the task. Results: Significant activation was found in the visual cortex for audiovisual stimulation and in the visual and auditory cortex for auditory stimulation. In addition, activation of characteristic sites was observed. The specific sites of activation for audiovisual stimulation were the middle frontal gyrus and the left nucleus accumbens, while the specific sites of activation for auditory stimulation were the bilateral insular cortices. The questionnaire showed no significant differences in either "relaxed mood" or "tingling mood" in response to auditory and visual stimulation or auditory stimulation alone. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that there was a clear difference between auditory and audiovisual stimulation in terms of the areas of activation in the brain, but the questionnaire did not reveal any difference in the subjects' mood. Audiovisual stimulation showed activation of the middle frontal gyrus and the nucleus accumbens, whereas auditory stimulation showed activation of the insular cortex. This difference in brain activation sites suggests a difference in mental health effects between auditory and audiovisual stimulation. However, future research on comparisons between those who experience tingling and those who do not, as well as investigations of physiological indices, and examination of the relationship with activated areas in the brain may show that ASMR is useful for mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malignant neoplasm of bone and articular cartilage (MNBAC) is one of the causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. To date, there is a lack of detailed studies on the disease burden of MNBAC. Data on the incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) of MNBAC from 1990 to 2021 were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease study. We estimated the trends in the burden of MNBAC by calculating the estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) in age-standardized rates by region, country, and social development index. Globally, the cases of incidence and deaths of MNBAC showed a significant upward trend. In 2021, the global incidence cases of MNBAC were 91,375.1 (73,780.4–102,469.7), and the number of deaths was 66,114.3 (53,305.4–74,466.9). The age-standardized incidence, mortality, and DALYs rates were all on the rise, with EAPCs of 0.59 (0.51 to 0.68), 0.11 (0.02 to 0.21), and 0.08 (0 to 0.17), respectively. In 2021, China had the highest number of incidence cases and deaths. Two peaks in incidence cases and deaths were observed in the 15–19 and 65–69 age groups, with incidence rates and death rates generally increasing with age, and higher in males than females. The region with the highest incidence cases, deaths, and age-standardized incidence rate was East Asia, while Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest age-standardized mortality, and DALYs rates. From 1990 to 2021, the global burden of MNBAC has continued to increase, particularly in East Asia, which faces the highest number of incidence cases and deaths, while Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa faces the highest ASMR and ASDR. To mitigate this burden, different regions should develop cancer control actions based on their respective epidemiological characteristics, with a focus on the elderly and adolescents, and control of risk factors. • For the first time, a detailed description of the global trend and burden of MNBAC. • Significant global increase in MNBAC incidence and mortality from 1990 to 2021 • East Asia has the highest incidence and deaths cases of MNBAC. • Male exhibit higher MNBAC burden than female across all age groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to research on children's YouTube, online video genres and media consumption practices by focusing on genres that take shape at the intersection of digital media content and embodied sensation and in particular 'oddly satisfying' (OS) videos. This type of content has become popular on YouTube, where examples of satisfying and OS content include the manipulation or movement of a range of colourful or tactile materials such as slime, kinetic sand or icing a cake. To document the evolution and key characteristics of this genre, we analyse YouTube videos using content analysis methods. Our findings show the characteristics of this sensory genre can be understood through the concept of visual tactility, which highlights the synaesthetic feel of watching these videos. Further, we identify and examine how OS videos demonstrate ambiguities in children's YouTube content, audiences and regulation by overlapping with other sensory genres and more adult content, such as ASMR. This analysis thus situates this sensory genre in relation to the developing study of children's YouTube entertainment industries and media regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a sensory-emotional phenomenon characterized by tingling sensations, typically felt across the scalp and neck. Scepticism around this phenomenon is still widespread, keeping the question of whether it is genuine and not mere result of conditioning, still open. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to partially answer this question, by investigating the physiological correlates of the sensory feelings reported during ASMR. In this study, we investigated the time course of somatosensory activity during ASMR, by measuring somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in response to tactile stimuli delivered to 36 participants, while watching an ASMR and a control video. Cluster-based permutation test results revealed a significant difference in SEPs between the two conditions within the time window of mid-latency components (117 to 151ms) and over medial and ipsilateral centro-parietal regions, with larger amplitude while engaging with the ASMR triggers as compared to the non-ASMR eliciting video. These findings provide electrophysiological evidence of enhanced somatosensory engagement during ASMR, contributing to the growing body of research supporting the authenticity of ASMR as a genuine sensory experience., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Si bien el fenómeno de videos ASMR (siglas del inglés Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) en YouTube ha tenido un aumento notable en México en los últimos años, los principales canales aún carecen de uso efectivo y continuo de estrategias y tácticas de marketing digital como se observa en los videos patrocinados, a diferencia de los canales más populares de otras latitudes, esencialmente angloparlantes. Mediante una revisión detallada en YouTube, este trabajo compara ambos materiales y argumenta que el mercado mexicano puede aprovechar las estrategias de marketing de sus contrapartes, con algunas modificaciones, para montarse a la economía de la atención, aquella en donde la cognición se plantea como un bien que puede ser monetizado. El análisis de ambos grupos de canales halló que, en general, aquellos perfiles administrados por creadores de ASMR mexicanos cuentan con menor calidad de producción, escaso conocimiento de conceptos básicos de marketing y menor frecuencia de publicación de videos en inglés, al contrario de los canales más populares a nivel internacional. En el texto se discuten estos hallazgos a la luz de los conceptos de marketing relativos al alcance, relevancia y resonancia, así como del constructo de la economía de la atención.

BackgroundDiverse socio-economic and cultural issues contribute to adverse health outcomes and increased mortality rates among rural Indian women across different age categories. The present study aims to comprehensively assess age-specific mortality rates (ASMR) and their temporal trends using a composite measure at the sub-national level for rural Indian females to capture cross-state differences.Materials and methodsA total of 19 states were included in the study to construct a composite age-specific mortality index for 2011 (base year) and 2018 (reference year) and examine the incremental changes in the index values across these years at the sub-national level in India. Sub-index values were calculated for each component age group and were subsequently used to compute the composite ASMR index using the geometric mean method. Based on the incremental changes, the performance of states was categorized into four different typologies.ResultsImprovement in mortality index scores in the 0–4 years age group was documented for all states. The mortality rates for the 60+ age group were recorded to be high for all states. Kerala emerged as the overall top performer in terms of mortality index scores, while Bihar and Jharkhand were at the bottom of the mortality index table. The overall mortality composite score has shown minor improvement from base year to reference year at all India level.ConclusionAn overall reduction in the mortality rates of rural Indian women has been observed over the years in India. However, in states like Bihar and Jharkhand, mortality is high and has considerable scope for improvement. The success of public health interventions to reduce the under-five mortality rate is evident as the female rural mortality rates have reduced sizably for all states. Nevertheless, there is still sizable scope for reducing mortality rates for other component age groups. Additionally, there is a need to divert attention toward the female geriatric (60+ years) population as the mortality rates are still high.

Copyright of Journal of Communication Theory & Research / Iletisim Kuram ve Arastirma Dergisi is the property of Gazi University, Faculty of Communication and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a phenomenon characterised by a static-like tingling sensation spreading from the scalp and neck to the periphery in response to a variety of audio, visual, and tactile triggers resulting in a highly relaxed state and boosted positive affect. The limited literature on this phenomenon points to a potential of ASMR to alleviate pain. Emerging evidence also suggests that ASMR may be linked to increased sensory sensitivity more broadly. This study aimed to objectively address these claims by administering an algometer (measure of pain tolerance), and a visual analog scale (VAS) (measure of subjective pain sensitivity) to ASMR experiencers and controls at baseline, following an ASMR video, and a control video. Findings indicate that ASMR experiencers have a higher pain sensitivity than controls; however, there was no difference between the two groups in terms of pain tolerance. In addition, any potential analgesic properties associated with experiencing ASMR may reflect protective properties of ASMR buffering against the increased pain sensitivity among ASMR experiencers relative to controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the viral circulation of the acronym ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) has brought a new sensation and audiovisual genre to the attention of the internet-connected world. This phenomenon has attracted the interest of contemporary music composers, who have begun using the term ASMR as a shorthand for a broader theoretical category that involves the assemblage of a specific sound quality, its aisthesis, and a range of compositional, performance, and recording techniques through which they are manipulated. Based on interviews with eight living composers (Carola Bauckholt, Chaya Czernowin, Andrew Harlan, Ole Hübner, Neo Hülcker, Allan Gravgaard Madsen, Morten Riis, and Charlie Sdraulig), I argue that the term ASMR is used as a shorthand to invoke the 'intimate zone'. As one of the four zones of human interaction formalised by anthropologist Edward T. Hall in his theory of proxemics, the intimate zone emerges from the ways in which space, the sensorium, and one's sense of self mould each other. After deconstructing the nature of ASMR as an autonomous galvanic response, and combining the framework of proxemics with that of 'cultural techniques', I articulate the ways in which the composers use the term ASMR to speak about features of past contemporary art music as well as their current work. I then describe the strategies employed in their compositions to engage the intimate zone and divide them into two main categories. The first involves calibrating the perceived proximity of the audience to the sound object, while the second involves manipulating the space in which this interaction occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mukbang is a type of foodcasting where a host records or streams their eating rituals for audience consumption in live format. With origins in South Korea via the online broadcast genre found on Afreeca TV in the mid-2000s, the phenomenon has since found global popularity. Its development as a full-fledged genre is based on a communication culture that invites people to a meal rather than to talk to one another; viewers watch in silence as a host consumes a copious number of dishes from Korean gastronomy to fast food to other ethnic cuisine on display. An invitation to eat means the beginning of a public relationship that quickly turns to a private shared experience. This study analyzes several Mukbang video postings and makes use of Linden's culture approach model to provide a view toward a number of cross-cultural connections by Koreans and non-Korean audiences. Prior to the study, 10 Korean eating shows were selected and used as standard models. Korean Mukbang mainly consists of eating behavior and ASMR, with very few storytelling or narrative devices utilized by its creators. For this reason, eating shows make a very private connection. In other ways, this paper shows how 28 Mukbangrelated YouTube contents selected by Ranker were evolving and examined through notions of acculturation and reception theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aimed to investigate the mediating role of loneliness, ASMR, on the relationship between narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy and anxiety disorder. The population of the study was professionals working in public and private sector organizations. Non-probability snowball technique was used. Data was collected from 512 professionals. A total of 653 questionnaires were distributed and 512 were used in the analysis yielding a response rate of 78.4%. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the data. Measurement and structural models were developed to test the reliability, and validity of the scales as well as hypotheses. Findings of the measurement model revealed that scales were reliable and valid while results of the structural model revealed that narcissism, psychopathy, COVID loneliness, and ASMR have a significant direct impact on anxiety disorder but Machiavellianism does not have a significant effect on anxiety disorder. In addition, COVID loneliness and ASMR mediated between narcissism and psychopathy but do not significantly mediate between Machiavellianism and anxiety disorder. The current study has extended the body of knowledge by bridging the two theories theory of attachment and cognitive dissonance theory. The current study has provided the primary evidence that COVID loneliness increases anxiety while ASMR (audio-visual) tingling sensations help to reduce anxiety disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is the experience of tingling sensations in the crown and back of the head as a response to a range of audio-visual triggers such as whispering, tapping, and hand movements (Hostler, 2020). The number of people who produce and utilize ASMR inducing media has increased in the last few years, but little research has been done investigating its use among college students. This experimental study sought to investigate if viewing ASMR videos could reduce heart rate and perceived stress in college students. Twenty participants were shown either an ASMR video or a control video. Before and after watching the video, participants measured their heart rates and completed a perceived stress questionnaire. They were also asked questions about previous experiences with ASMR videos. The data revealed significant changes in heart rate. There were no significant differences found on perceives student stress. Results regarding participants experiences with ASMR videos are reported, however findings were limited based on small sample size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ASMR is a sensation that is felt, such as a tingling and pleasant feeling. This sensation starts from the top of the head which will spread throughout the body, accompanied by a feeling of calm and relaxation. ASMR also occurs unconsciously in response to external triggers. Even the sound of paper rubbing against each other can bring a personal memory to the listener. ASMR is indeed a phenomenon that not everyone understands, and very little researched. This research was carried out based on a qualitative approach entitled "Analysis of Reception of Students when Watching Video Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) Cutting Soap". The reason the researcher proposes this title is because there is a unique phenomenon, namely ASMR and the general public does not know about it. Qualitative research is essentially a person's observation of their environment, interacting with them, trying to understand them and the world around them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anáhuac Journal is the property of Universidad Anahuac del Sur S.C. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a tingling, static-like sensation in response to specific triggering audio and visual stimuli. Within recent years, ASMR has mostly been associated with videos on YouTube (technologically mediated ASMR) dedicated to make the users “tingle”, relax, and feel at ease. In this article, I explore the ambiguity of technology in relation to the ASMR experience and theoretically investigate how viewer-listeners might struggle to obtain an intimate and parasocial interaction in a technologically mediated ASMR context. The article introduces four types of intimacies as well as theoretical concepts of mediated intimacy, immediacy, and parasocial interaction, and I discuss these intimacies and concepts in relation to illustrative comments by some of the pacesetting power users of ASMR.

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is an atypical and multisensory phenomenon in which specific audio-visual stimuli elicit a pleasurable, head-oriented tingling sensation and feelings of relaxation. The purpose of this research was to analyze the ASMR experiences of university students in the light of well-being theory. Two-phased, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with three Finnish university students who identified themselves as ASMR experiencers. Data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Coding was guided by the domains of well-being in the PERMA model: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. The objective was to explore effect of students’ ASMR experiences on their well-being. The findings show that ASMR videos enhanced the well-being of the participants through mindfulness-like experience. The potential of ASMR videos to promote psychosocial wellbeing is intriguing, and this research provide new understanding about ASMR experiences and their meaning.

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a warm tingling sensation which is often accompanied by feelings of calmness and relaxation. The present study examined the effects of an ASMR video on mood, attention, heart rate (HR), electrodermal activity (EDA), electroencephalography (EEG) and the interaction with personality factors in 38 young adults (33 females and 5 males). Based on the ASMR-checklist responses of having tingles during watching the ASMR video 15 participants out of 38 were classified as ASMR-experiencers. Mood, attention and personality characteristics were measured by the Profile of Mood States, the Flanker task and HEXACO. EEG, HR and EDA were recorded during the ASMR and control videos. Depressive feelings decreased after watching the ASMR video in individuals experiencing tingles relative to those not experiencing tingles. Furthermore, in all participants, irrespective of experiencing tingles, a decrease of HR during watching the ASMR video was found. In ASMR-experiencers scoring low on Conscientiousness EDA tended to increase and HR tended-relatively to the group not experiencing tingles—to decrease during watching the ASMR video. EEG recordings indicated that watching the ASMR video was associated with decreased alpha power in ASMR-sensitive participants and decreased theta as well as increased beta power in the whole group of participants. The observed ASMR-induced decrease of alpha and theta power and increase of beta power and (only in low conscientious participants) EDA may reflect that, apart from relaxation, ASMR is related to arousal and focused attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the new media where there are many presentations and representations, the audience who are increasingly fragmented, are integrated around different thematic areas, and more specific interests that affect their mass characteristics. In this study, ASMR the phenomenon, which is among the popular contents of YouTube, and has begun to gain a place in the mainstream media, is discussed as a new contextual category that corresponds to the more specific interests of the audience and within the scope of narrowcasting. The expansions that ASMR brings to both narrowcasting and fragmented audience are presented. In this context, ASMR videos were observed by the netnography method during a year on YouTube, 8 Turkish ASMR content creators/ASMRtists were interviewed with, and the audience comments in the three most watched videos of these ASMRtists on YouTube were examined. Among the more significant findings of the study are that the ASMR has 14 content categories in the context of narrowcasting, that the audience who expect relaxation/therapy with ASMR make requests like an active content producer/prosumer, and they need media mediation even so as to fall asleep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]