The much talked about pseudo-scientific acronym ASMR – Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response – is said to be an anomalous trigger for what loosely relates to a certain type of visual and auditory-tactile synaesthesia bonding. ASMR allusions first emerged in online chat rooms in 2008 and were initiated by Jennifer Allen, who has significantly shaped ASMR’s thought and practice. Exchanges in these chatrooms developed around discussions of sparkly, wave-like, comfortable tingling sensations that start at the crown of your head and can spread through the neck and limbs to induce a luminous and calm environment in the person experiencing it.

Beyond the ASMR phenomenon
For just about a decade the whispering vocabulary of ASMR has evolved as a sonic phenomenon. At the Academy for Open Listening, in Odense, sound artist Sofie Birch and visual artist My Lambertsen set out a new direction for the genre.