Yeah yeah.
I have heard of it, but what I mean is, is it a real thing or just bullshit, and why is it (supposedly) triggered by things as random as whispering, chiropractic cracking noises, the sounds of a barbershop, watching soap being cut, watching stuff being fed into a shredder etc. That's just the start of the multitude of random shit that a search of the term ASMR brought up on Youtube, I could have carried on that list for ages.
I've experienced it my whole life, but literally never from what people put up as "ASMR videos" on YouTube and elsewhere. Now it's like a weird meme, but I've only experienced it under particular circumstances. I honestly had no idea everyone didn't have it until it became a topic of conversation online.
Triggers for me have always been:
1) Getting a haircut with scissors
2) Watching Bob Ross
3) Seeing a task or process done well
I've discussed this at length with a friend who does neurocommunication research. We theorize that with the haircut there are interaction effects that make it hard to isolate. Is it the sound of the scissors? The feeling of them on my head? The mix of sights and sounds? Too many variables to rule out, plus it could be the interaction of all of them. Similar with Bob Ross. Is it his voice? The sound of the brushes on the canvas? Absorbing the process of the painting? Interactions of all three? Again, unclear.
With the third category we have a more easily isolable variable, especially because both Bob Ross and Barbers in action can fall under that category. If this is the case, it could be interaction of sounds with task observation, but task observation seems to be a common variable. So what kind of task/process? What does doing a task well entail? For me, it's always been watching someone do something that takes multiple steps seemingly effortlessly and seamlessly. Folding sheets, assembling something or taking something apart quickly and smoothly, even occasionally watching a jiu jitsu move demonstrated that involves leverage points I wouldn't consider. It's hard to recall others, but I know being measured and marked off by a tailor is one, weirdly.
When I experience these things, I get a tingly feeling that runs along the top of my head down my neck, almost as if someone were running a feather duster lightly across my head and neck. It's pleasurable, but a very weak feeling, almost like how you feel in the instant before you get chills, except without the anxious feeling. I used to love going to the barber shop because of it. Videos generally don't do it for me, other than Bob Ross, which lends credence to the idea that there must be some sonic stimulus, but I haven't really felt it in other instances. It's almost like the thing you're observing has to lull or entrance you a bit, then once you're under the spell, you feel it.
Some researchers are studying it now ever since discussion of it on Reddit confirmed there are many people around the world who feel this and of course many who don't. I tried to get my friend to hook me up to an fMRI to figure it out, but it was cost prohibitive.