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Published March 5, 2016 | Version v1
Conference paper Open

"Oh Such a Good Sound": A Case for a Macrocosmic Aesthetic of Grace in ASMR

Creators

  • 1. Michigan State University

Description

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a pseudoscientific neologism for a pleasurable tingling sensation reported by a growing number of people in response to soft sounds such as whispers, crinkles, and taps. ASMR is described as a “headgasm” where tingles start in the scalp or neck and radiate throughout the body. An active community of enthusiasts has emerged on YouTube in support of videos crafted by “ASMRtists.” 

Characteristics of the videos include a strong sense of personal intimacy, long-duration unedited streams, and high fidelity recording made with “3Dio” binaural microphones shaped like human ears. These and other techniques invite the viewer into increasingly realistic online spaces defined by acoustic simulation. In recent months, the ASMR genre has pushed beyond the confines of two-dimensional screens with interactive videos that allow the viewer to freely explore three-dimensional space and sound. These new media formats explode the limits of mechanical reproduction as a microcosm of lived experience, instead functioning in and of themselves as ongoing macrocosmic events, placing them in dialogue with other recent musical trends including ambient music and acoustic ecology.

Using theoretical frameworks from Cusick, Kittler, Attali, and Scarry, I argue for an aesthetics of ASMR that challenges longstanding assumptions about the social politics of sound. Rather than being defined by structures of power, representation, and narrative, the ASMR community embodies a sound world defined by grace. Although virtually indistinguishable from music (and at times explicitly equated with it), ASMR completely lacks delimited roles of composer, performer, and audience. Additionally, ASMR counters popular concern about the mediating nature of digital interfaces in society and the art world. Rather than hedging individual subjectivities through the use of symbols, texts, and stylized or abbreviated forms, ASMR appears to foster personal intimacy, vulnerability, and authenticity through a heard, embodied, and shared practice.

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