An Investigation Into Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response As A Basis For Video Game Audio Application

AN
INVESTIGATION INTO AUTONOMOUS

SENSORY MERIDIAN RESPONSE AS A BASIS
FOR VIDEO GAME AUDIO APPLICATION
by
Andrew Richardson – N0775964

A Dissertation
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
BSc Hons in Audio and Music Technology

Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies
Nottingham Trent University
May 2018

Supervisor: (Ken Liston)

1
Abstract
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is the sensations and tingling experienced
when certain sounds or ‘triggers’ are heard by a small percentage of individuals. Commonly,
tapping and soft whispering are known to give people chills and these tingling sensations
which start from the back of the head, down the neck and into the recipients back. Those
who experience ASMR often report a sense of euphoria and happiness accompanying the
tingling and similar sensations. The subject is, as of now, very undocumented with very
limited research conducted into the field, so the uses of the phenomenon are yet to be fully
discovered.

Testing for ASMR relevance in video games requires a game in which the audio can be
changed to accommodate different triggers which may impact on the player. The game code
was constructed to function specifically for the test environment as to not overcomplicate
the design and keep everything to only what is needed for testing. This ensured that the
testing was not inaccessible for some users who may not be confident with using computers
and playing video games, to allow for a wide range of responses.

The data collected from the tests shows that ASMR can be used for video games audio as
players will still experience ASMR the same as when simply watching videos, however, they
do not tend to enjoy the experience as much as the same game with more expected or
realistic sound effects. The uses of this are something which will need more investigation for
possible future application but as of now, it is evident that ASMR is a very uncommon
experience and is something which can be applied in various forms of media, but needs
more experimentation.

2
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Dr. Nick Davis and Emma Barratt for all of their help in setting the basis for the
investigation and allowing the use of their questionnaire to further the research approach.
All of the help that they have given throughout the investigation has allowed for a wider
sample of participants and different avenues to be tested along the way, without which, the
results could not have been obtained in such a fashion.

3
Table of Contents
Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. 4
Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 5
Literature Review .............................................................................................................. 6
What is Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response? .................................................................... 6
Explaining ASMR ............................................................................................................................ 6
Uses of ASMR ................................................................................................................................. 6
Satisfying Sounds in Video Games ................................................................................................. 7
Has ASMR been used in video games before? .............................................................................. 7
ASMR elsewhere ............................................................................................................................ 8
Frisson ....................................................................................................................................... 8
Misophonia ................................................................................................................................ 9
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 10
Methodology ................................................................................................................... 11
Overview .................................................................................................................................. 11
Method .................................................................................................................................... 11
Evaluation of Testing Methods ................................................................................................. 13
Justification .............................................................................................................................. 13
Results and Analysis ........................................................................................................ 15
Participant Characteristics ........................................................................................................ 15
Post-Game Questionnaire ........................................................................................................ 21
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 27
Reference List .................................................................................................................. 29
Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 32
Appendices ..................................................................................................................... 37
Appendix A .............................................................................................................................. 37
Appendix B ............................................................................................................................... 46
Appendix C ............................................................................................................................... 62
Appendix D .............................................................................................................................. 63
Appendix D .............................................................................................................................. 95
Appendix E ............................................................................................................................. 105
Appendix F ............................................................................................................................. 106
Appendix G ............................................................................................................................ 106
Appendix H ............................................................................................................................ 107
Appendix I .............................................................................................................................. 108
Appendix J ............................................................................................................................. 108
Appendix K ............................................................................................................................. 109
Appendix L ............................................................................................................................. 109
Appendix M ........................................................................................................................... 110
Appendix N ............................................................................................................................ 111
Appendix O ............................................................................................................................ 112
Appendix P ............................................................................................................................. 113
Appendix Q ............................................................................................................................ 129
Appendix R ............................................................................................................................. 132

4
Introduction
This investigation is going to be taking a look into the use of Autonomous Sensory Meridian
Response (ASMR) as a use for video game designers in their audio application. The idea
behind this is to find out whether or not ASMR is applicable in video games, and whether or
not the people who experience it can still get the same reaction with different visuals. The
hope is to uncover another means of immersion for game designers, who could then adapt
ASMR cues into their video games to widen their player base.

The understanding of ASMR is, as of right now, very limited and doesn’t have much scientific
backing, meaning the area has been very untouched in the way of experimentation, so the
possibilities are still very open.

There is a variety of information Surrounding ASMR, however there is not much information
regarding the explanation as to why some people do experience it and some don’t. There
are very few examples of where it has been used to benefit a company or as an immersion
tool, but that seems to be increasing as of late. It has become apparent that there are some
explanations of pattern recognition between what we hear and memories we have of a
young age, which could explain some of the different ASMR cues, such as whispering, being
related to nurturing parents.

5
Literature Review
What is Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response?
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, or simple ASMR, is the euphoric feeling or
pleasurable sensations which come from listening to certain sounds or watching certain
media (The ASMR Lab, 2013). These good sensations can be triggered by sounds as simple
as pouring rain and as such, ASMR is generally known for the relaxing feeling which helps
listeners to fall asleep (National Sleep Foundation, nd)

The important question is; does everyone experience ASMR? To which the answer is
generally no. Davis (2017) found that on average only 5% of the population claim to
experience ASMR, based on their knowledge of the subject, which suggests that not
everyone can experience it.

Explaining ASMR
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response is currently a very unknown subject, as Emerson
(2014) explained, there is very limited research into the field. The research into ASMR as of
yet, doesn’t explain why people get the responses from what they are hearing (Copeland,
2017). The ASMR Lab (2013) explains that the reason ASMR can’t be explained is because
there is no clear scientific link between the perception of sound and our reaction to it.

In contrast to The ASMR Lab, Stephen Porges (Young and Blansert, 2015), a neuroscientist
working for the university of North Carolina, explained that high frequency sounds act like
air conduction on the inner ear muscles, which regulate the ossicles around the ear drum.
When the muscles are stimulated it can slow down a person’s heartbeat which helps settle
them down.

Uses of ASMR
There are many uses of ASMR. The use of ASMR depends on the users’ reaction to the
stimuli. This could be, for example, a soothing or relaxing reaction, which could mean that
the content they are listening to could help them to fall asleep. This is one of the most
common uses for ASMR, with 82% of ASMR listeners agreeing that they use ASMR to help
them to sleep (NY2Rome, 2015). There has also been some understanding of eroticism in
ASMR, with some of the content created with a sexual element in mind (Warwick, 2015). As
ASMR is seen as quite an intimate thing, with whispering and role play being used in some
of the online videos which, for some listeners, can give sexual stimulation (NY2Rome, 2015).
It is however, a common misconception that all ASMR content is created for a sexual
purpose in the aim of gaining some kind sexual satisfaction (Warwick, 2015).

There have also been some possible medical uses found from the consumers of ASMR
media. As previously mentioned, ASMR has been used to help listeners sleep, and as such
has been used by people with Insomnia, to aid them in their sleep (Warwick, 2015). In
addition, others have found that it has helped them with anxiety and depression (What Is
ASMR? An explanation by Emma WhispersRED – ASMR Meaning, 2015). There is
unfortunately little or no official research into the use of ASMR for medical treatment and
therefore the effectiveness is not known for sure (Warwick, 2015).

6
Uses in the media
ASMR has been used in the media since taking off towards the end of 2010, as seen from
Google Trends (James, 2017), where it has recently been used in a KFC advertisement for
National Fried Chicken Day, which utilised ASMR to try and entice their customers into
buying their promotional offers (Gibson, 2016). The advert consisted of having someone
eating fried chicken and making a lot of noise doing so. The sound of people eating the
chicken is intended to provoke a reaction from someone who achieves ASMR.

Ikea decided to make an advertisement incorporating ASMR. The 25-minute-long video used
the sounds of rustling bed sheets, whispering and scratching pillows (Bourton, 2017). The
intent is to evoke the tingling sensation which occurs with ASMR from the viewer. Ikea
aimed to target students, to broaden their audience, by using ASMR to show how their
products can make a “dorm-friendly” environment (Bourton, 2017).

Satisfying Sounds in Video Games
Overwatch, a video game by Blizzard Entertainment, uses the sound of a beer can being
opened because it is deemed a satisfying sound by the sound designer as Grayson (2016)
reported in an article for Kotaku UK, a website dedicated to gaming news.

Has ASMR been used in video games before?
There are very few cases of where ASMR has been used on purpose in video games. One
example of where it has been used is in Until Dawn, an exclusive on the PlayStation 4
(Broad, 2017). The trigger for the ASMR in Until Dawn is at the ending of each chapter,
where the player is “greeted by Dr. Hill… …[who] starts performing exercises to judge what
you as a player fear most…” (Broad, 2017) and other similar therapy style examinations. This
follows the whispering and soft talking trigger for ASMR, which is the most common trigger
among the community (Discoverasmr, 2015), with the “soft tones” (Lolwot, nd) of a
person’s voice offering a relaxing feeling.

It is also argued that the reason soft spoken words and whispering has this effect on people
is based off of how a mother or carer would look after their children. The soft-spoken tone
from a carer, is considered comforting, with the whispering acting the same way a parent
would (Copeland, 2017). This is known as pattern recognition, defined by our ability to
identify patterns and act upon them (Hillman, 2016), which is considered “one of the most
fundamental cognitive skills we possess” (Hillman, 2016).

An example of pattern recognition would be our ability to recognise the alphabetic
characters in different writing styles or fonts as seen in Fig. 1.1. It is easy to see what each
symbol is depicting in the image, however none of them look the same. We, as humans,
know that they represent the same thing from our understanding of patterns, and therefore
recognise that the letter ‘A’ for example, has certain characteristics. This can be replicated in
many different things in life, one of which is the recognition of care givers having a soft
gentle tone of voice when talking to you, which will give you a sense of safety and
relaxation.

7
Until Dawn has very similar ASMR triggers as that of, The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross,
which has Bob Ross talking very softly throughout as he narrates his art process.
Fig. 1.1 – Pattern Recognition in Alphabetic Characters.

(Indiana University Bloomington, nd.)

ASMR elsewhere
The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross
Bob Ross’ TV series, The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross, is seen to be very relaxing by the
ASMR community. This, as mentioned previously, is because of the soft voice of the
presenter, as he explains what he is doing throughout the episode whilst painting a picture.

The ASMR Lab (2013) describes Bob Ross as the “perfect storm of ASMR triggers” by
explaining how he induces ASMR:
“His voice and the way he talks… …[and]personal attention… …He is also
incredibly focused on the task at hand, painting, another common ASMR
trigger. Add on top of these some brush sounds as he collects paint from his
palette and applies it to the canvas and you have just about the perfect
storm of ASMR triggers.”
-The ASMR Lab, 2013
8
Frisson
Frisson is defined as “a sudden feeling of excitement or fear” (Cambridge University, nd).
This usually occurs when something is anticipated to happen, such as listening to music and
anticipating a drop to happen. The general reaction is believed to be along the lines of a
sudden excitement or shudder of emotion which can be received when listening to a
climatic part of a song or
movie (Reddit Inc., nd). Frisson, in this regard, is very closely related to ASMR as it is the
reaction to sensory stimuli in a positive way.

There are many differences between Frisson and ASMR, one of which is that Frisson is most
commonly noticed when listening to music, or more specifically emotionally moving music
(Colver, 2016), giving a feeling of pleasure over the listener’s skin. This is not believed to be
replicable with ASMR, as the responses to ASMR material gives a different kind of response,
as Frisson is seen to be linked to memories, nostalgia or emotional connections (Skywise87,
2013) unique to the listener, whereas ASMR is a simple replicable response to multiple
people from key triggers. It is also noteworthy that Frisson has been shown to have an
impact on roughly two-thirds of the population (Colver, 2016), making it more common than
ASMR with its smaller 5% of people (Davis 2017).
The main cause of the pleasure gained from listening to emotional music is from the release
of dopamine in our brain (McGilchrist, 2011). Dopamine is a neurotransmitter which
occupies the pleasure and reward parts of the brain (Psychology Today, nd.) which, as Dr
Fleming (2012) explained, is increased upon such activities as eating, exercise and sex. This
shows that music is giving an experience to us similar to that of doing something good and
rewarding, meaning that music has a larger impact on us that we may have first thought.
This therefore can be related to gaming music as it could lead to a higher immersion level in
players when they experience Frisson from the game they play.

Misophonia
In contrast to Frisson, there is a phenomenon called Misophonia, which is defined as a
“hatred of sound” (Hughes, nd.), or as a condition in which a person has a strong aversion to
certain sounds (Vidal, Vidal and Lage, 2017). However, a person who has misophonia will
have certain triggers and symptoms which cause their hatred of sound and are generally
sensitive to specific sounds.

Misophonia is believed to be a neurological illness which can cause panic attacks and
anxiety attacks (Killworth, 2018) so is very different to frisson and of course ASMR.

The main differences are simply that ASMR produces a euphoric and pleasant sensation,
whilst Misophonia is a negative sensation which can fill people with dread and anxiety. This
is something to consider in the use of ASMR triggers, as those who experience misophonia
may have the same ‘trigger set’ as those who experience ASMR. This can cause problems in
the use of certain triggers causing some people pain, while others pleasure.

9
Conclusion
ASMR has many different uses in the media and even as a cure for insomnia. It is a very
unknown subject and as such needs a lot of investigation and studying to try and figure out
the reasons why people have these positive reactions to sound, and in contrast why some
people have negative reactions.
There have been a number of different explanations put forward for why people experience
ASMR, such as the pattern recognition argument and the vibrations on the ossicles in the
ear. None of the explanations put forward can be proved as of yet, with the applications still
very unknown. This therefore means that the application in games design has been untested
and not studied as of yet. This investigation should put this to the test to prove that ASMR
triggers can be used for audio application in video games, to cause an ASMR response on
the player. It is noticeable that other forms of visual media, such as television, has been
known to cause ASMR in the past, so from this it seems logical that ASMR being used in
video games is a valid outcome with a reasonable success rate.

10
Methodology
Overview
The research question to be investigated is to conclude whether or not ASMR has a viable
use in video games, for audio cues and dialogue, to induce an ASMR reaction to the player
and whether or not it still has the same impact on immersion compared to the original
intended sound.

Immersion can be defined as focusing all of one’s attention on the task, or in this case the
video game, so much so that their engagement to the content can cause them to not notice
things happening around them (Jennett et al., 2008). Levels of immersion are subjective,
and therefore change from person to person (Miller and Bugnariu, 2016). This means that
the testing of immersion cannot be done by simple observations, as one person may react
differently to another but be just as immersed. Instead a questionnaire will need to be filled
out by the participant after playing the game to assess how they felt about what they
experienced.

Method
The testing methods used in this investigation includes surveys and questionnaires to
determine each participant’s immersion level along with their opinions on how the game
was to play, along with their responses to the audio within the game.

Before the testing begins, it is important to outline what the test is for, but without giving
too much information away, as to not create a bias, but to also keep the participants looking
for the right content. They will be given a more condensed version of the survey which was
posted online, measuring their personality traits and other personal attributes, which will be
anonymous. The test will be done in two different groups; those who experience the ASMR
content implemented in the game followed by the original game, and those who experience
the original content first followed by the ASMR content. This way all of the participants get
to play both games to see which one they find more appealing. Following the testing of each
game, a questionnaire will be filled out around how each participant felt about the game
and outlining the sounds for the participant. This is an appropriate action to take, as Behm-
Morawitz et al. (2016) found when researching the impact of violent videos games on the
player. By getting a person’s reaction straight away, the aim is to try and increase the
results’ validity, as the participant could forget or make up their emotion based on prior
knowledge.

For the questionnaires, a large sample of participants is needed for analysing the personality
traits of people with and without ASMR. This will make it easy to find a large number of
people who experience ASMR, as Davis (2017) discovered only 5% of the population claim to
experience ASMR. This makes finding a large amount of people to test very difficult with this
in mind, the testing will be done via forums and online web posts, along with any face to
face cases that can be established along the way.

An example of this type of testing can be seen in Barratt and Davis’ (2015 (a)) paper,
‘Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR): a flow-like mental state’, where they
11
used a questionnaire (see Appendix A) to test 475 participants from reddit, to see what
common traits were present in those who do or do not experience ASMR.

The aim of the survey is to get an understanding of what criteria is common in the
participants who do experience ASMR, or in contrast, don’t experience it. After contacting
Barratt and Davis (2015), permission was given to use their questionnaire (see Appendix R),
although after some slight editing (see Appendix B), as a starting point to find out some
information about users’ personality traits.

From this, some ASMR-inducing sounds based on the feedback from the survey will be
applied to a self-created video game (see Appendix E – O), in replacement of the pre-
existing sounds to see if they still cause the player to experience ASMR, whith the hope that
the immersion of the game stays near enough the same.

There will be some observed testing of participants playing the two different games. The
participants will fill out a survey based on the game they had just played to assess how they
felt playing the game, along with the different sound effects played within. There will be a
series of questions discussing ASMR, however it will not be made obvious what the test is
for in order to keep the participants objective.

All participants will be given a copy of the ethical approval form and will be asked to give
consent that they are willing to take part and acknowledge that they are able to stop and
leave at any point during the testing. This follows the psychology standard for right to
withdraw for testing humans, which states that participants should have the right to
confidentiality and the ability to remove themselves from the study without consequences
(McLeod, 2007).

The questionnaires will include an ASMR checklist (Fredborg et al., 2017) to check to see if
the participants picked up on any sensations which they may have experience while playing
the game and measure each person’s immersion in the game. The immersion can be
categorised as cognitive absorption (Jennett et al., 2008). Cognitive absorption (CA) is, as
defined by Agarwal and Karahanna (2000), the “state of deep involvement with software”.
CA is displayed by the five dimensions; temporal dissociation, attention focus, heightened
enjoyment, control and curiosity (Jennett et al., 2008). CA will be used within the
questionnaire to analyse how each person felt within the testing by using a multiple choice
of answers relative to each dimension of CA, similar to that used by Zhang, Li and Sun (2006)
in their tests into how users absorb online media. Their survey instrument (see Appendix C)
allows for the selection of different options depending on how the participant felt during
the assessment, which cover all of the basses of CA and those which will lead to immersion.

The sounds to be changed within the video game will be; the collection of a collectable in
game, the jump sound, the enemy death sound, the finish sound and the voice overs. The
voice over will be replaced with the same line of speech, but whispered instead of spoken.
The aim from this is to get an ASMR reaction relative to whispering. The coin collection
sound will be replaced with a series of tapping sounds which are based off the results of the
early testing questionnaires.

12
The method of inputting the sound into the game for the coin collection can be seen in
Appendix N line 54 as the code checks for whether or not the player has collided with the
object, outputting the sound if the outcome is true and destroying the coin. The same is
applied to the question mark box (Appendix N line 59), the jump sounds (Appendix M line
60), finish tune and voice over (Appendix N line 44 and 45), start voiceover (Appendix M
line 18), background music (Appendix E line 25) and the enemy death sound (Appendix M
line 81). These sounds all call upon the Audio Management script (Appendix E) which
defines the sound to be played, finds it within the database and defines any properties
which could be needed, such as volume or pitch.

The player will be able to die (see Appendix J) within the game as to create a sense of
completion when the player actually finishes the game. This is important otherwise the
game will be very easy and not as fun to those playing it.

The results of the testing will be analysed to see the general consensus on how ASMR
triggers work within a video game, along with whether or not the participants felt they the
use of the triggers is a viable option for video game sounds. The results will be displayed in a
spreadsheet with the averages and standard deviation of the results to give a good
understanding of the range of the results to know how accurate the results are (Rumsey,
nd.).

Evaluation of Testing Methods
Using questionnaires is a good way of getting a large sample of results in a quick amount of
time. This is because questionnaires can be handed out and distributed online easily to
groups and online forums specific to the topic. This allows for quick and instant results,
especially after the testing of the game, where the participants will immediately (Presser et
al., 2004) fill out the questionnaire giving their honest and unbiased opinion on how they
felt the game was and how each part made them feel.

There is however, an ease for participants to give fake answers (DeFranzo, 2012) in surveys
when they are distributed online, with some answers intended to skew results and throw
the test off track. This is a big disadvantage to surveying as it can throw a lot of problems in
the mix when analysing results.

Testing the game in person using an observation technique allows for monitoring of the test
to see how each person reacts, and whether or not they are testing fairly and in good test
conditions. This allows for the maintaining of a constant setup for the test, with the same
hardware and audio equipment to keep the testing consistent (University of Portsmouth,
2012). In contrast to this, it can be seen that observational tests can be too subjective
(University of Portsmouth, 2012) and in some cases, can give participants a skewed result as
they may feel under pressure in their results.

Justification
The justification for this type of testing is for ease of finding participants. With the amount
of people experiencing ASMR being so low, it would be very hard to herd a group of people
with ASMR in to do testing in person. Using online forums and Facebook groups to
distribute the content to a wider range of people is ideal to make sure that as many people
13
who have ASMR can access the test as possible. It is also very important to get the
responses of those who do not experience ASMR in order to determine what causes the
responses to each ASMR trigger.

The observational testing in person will be used to make sure that a sample of the testing is
fair and carried out appropriately. Doing this allows for the maintaining of the equipment
used being the same. This increases the validity and reliability of the results as they are
conducted under strict testing condition where all of the participants are under the same
conditions. For the test to be reliable, the results will need to be conducted in the same
conditions and have a close outcome for the same attributes (Shuttleworth and Wilson,
nd.).

14
Results and Analysis
The initial questionnaire, which was distributed online, came back with an unexpected 265
responses (see Appendix D). This was a large amount of responses for what is quite a long
survey (see Appendix B) so naturally there would be some instances where people did not
complete every question and as such their results will be taken under consideration within
the analysis. As this was based off of Barratt and Davis’ (2015 (b)) survey (Appendix A) very
closely, comparisons can be made between the results and as such will be put alongside the
current research to see if it correlates and follows the same trend.

Participant Characteristics
The range of people who answered this questionnaire is considerably large, with only one
person answering the ‘Younger than 14’ option as their age, whilst one person answered
’59’ for their age with the space in between being filled by almost every age. This shows a
large range of ages being tested, which allows for testing of a wider group of people and
allows the results to be more generalizable. The average age of participants worked out to
be 29.58 (excluding the ‘Younger than 14’ option as it wasn’t clear how old they were)
which was rounded to a more suitable 30 years old.

There was a nice split of male and female participants in this test, as 125 of the participants
were male (47.2%) with 127 being female (47.9%) and 13 being Non-binary/Other (4.9%) as
shown in Fig. 2.1.1. This is a good demographic for any form of testing, as it shows a good
split of genders so is easy to distinguish the differences in male to female (Draper, 2014) as
an impact on their perception of ASMR. Having this equal split allows to easily compare the
number of male participants who experience ASMR compared to the female participants.

From this initial survey, the number of participants who agreed to experiencing tingles from
ASMR content was a majority of 93.2% (see Fig. 2.1.2). This is not generalizable to the rest
of the population however, as the survey was posted on a series of ASMR forums and
groups, which means those answering have a bias on the content, by either watching ASMR
for the tingling sensations, or for enjoyment in other ways, so doesn’t consider those who
have not heard of it or watch the content. It is noticeable that not every participant
answered this question, with only a total of 192 of the 265 who answered the very first
question about their gender.
Fig. 2.1.1 – The gender split in the initial questionnaire

15
Fig. 2.1.2 – The split of those who experience tingles from ASMR in the initial
questionnaire

From those who did agree to having tingles from ASMR content, the majority were female
with 91 out of the 179 (51%), while there were 79 males (44%) and 9 Non-binary/Other (5%)
(see Fig. 2.1.3). This was a good split; however, it shows that in general, females tended to
be more prone to experiencing ASMR, from those tested. This is not necessarily
generalizable to the wider population as the sample is not large enough to apply on a global
scqle. For a test to be generalizable, it needs to be broadly applicable to more than the
sample of the test in different situations with a larger sample (Hydrocephalus Association,
nd). As this test is only measuring a small percentage of the global population, at roughly
0.0000035%, considering the size of the population is roughly 7.6 billion people
(Worldometers, 2018) to date, while there is a bias on the results considering the source of
the participants.

Fig. 2.1.3 – The gender of those who experienced tingles from ASMR content
9
5%
79
44%
91
51%
Male Female Non-binary/Other

16

Question 17 in the questionnaire measures what sounds generally cause a participant to
experience ASMR, or commonly called triggers. The results show that in general most
people found that whispering was their most common trigger (see Fig. 2.1.4), with personal
attention coming in a close second, and crisp sounds coming in third. This correlates well
with what Barratt and Davis (2015) found in their results, as shown in Fig. 2.1.5.

Having the results follow a similar trend gives the results more reliability, as generally
people tend to find the same triggers cause an ASMR response showing that the test is still
fitting for purpose three years later. The test-retest reliability (Berchtold, 2016) helps to
validate the answer for the most common ASMR triggers and allows for the best samples to
be used in the video game testing. The triggers used in the video game testing were
whispers and crisp sounds, which included tapping and scratching.

The tingling sensation participants felt while listening to ASMR content was generally first
found at quite a young age, with most participants noticing it below the age of 14 as seen in
Fig. 2.1.6. There is one problem with the testing here, as the results do not have specific
statistics for those who selected ‘Below 14’ and as such it is difficult to determine the
definitive age that those people were referring to. From the 129 participants who selected
below 14, 69 of them were female, while 50 were male and 4 were non-binary/other. This
again has a very nice split which is quite close between male and female. The non-
binary/other category will tend to always be lower as the number of people who identify as
something other than male or female is very low, with only 1 in 250 people in the UK
identifying as non-binary in 2014 (Practical Androgyny, 2014). It would be more beneficial to
have data for the exact age intended by those who selected the ‘Below 14’ option for more
consistent results.

17
Fig. 2.1.4 – Most common ASMR triggers
Graph Showing The Most Common ASMR Triggers

160 134
140 122
108
120 90
100 68
80
60 43
40 14
20 2 4 2 1
0

Fig. 2.1.5 – Barratt and Davis’ results on the most common ASMR triggers

(Barratt and Davis 2015 (a))
Fig. 2.1.6 – The age participants first felt tingles from ASMR content based on their
gender split
Graph Showing The Age Participants First Felt Tingling From ASMR
Based on their Gender
80 69
70
56
60
50
40
30
20
54 5
10 4
131
42
1 0
42
0 00 131 3
00 002 200 3
0 0 010 220 000 110 010 000 010 000 000
4
10 000
0
Not Applicable
Never
42-60
Below 14
Above 60
32 - 40
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
30
31
41
26 - 29
Male Female Non-binary/Other
18
In an attempt to try and pinpoint a specific personality trait which may cause AMSR, the
questionnaire asks participants about any chronic pain/illnesses that they may have and to
specify what they are. The aim of this is to see if there are any commonalities between
those who experience certain illnesses or conditions and those who experience ASMR.

The results for this show that from this test, those who had chronic pain/illness tended to
be more prone to experiencing ASMR, with 60% of males who experiences chronic pain also
experience ASMR with 77% of females and 83% of non-binary/other participants. The
figures for this can be seen in Fig. 2.1.7.

These results do not show that everyone that experiences ASMR will have chronic
pain/illness however, as there were a large number of participants who did not have chronic
pain/illness in the questionnaire, and as the amount of people who did experience ASMR is
larger than the amount of people who experience chronic pain/illness, the correlation
between chronic pain/illness and ASMR is inconclusive.

The percentage of males who experienced chronic pain/illness from the questionnaire was
only 7% (see Fig. 2.1.8 (a)), while 20% of female participants experienced chronic
pain/illness (see Fig. 2.8 (b)) and 32% of those who identified as non-binary/other (see Fig.
2.1.8 (c)). With the results being less than 50% in each case, this shows no real correlation
between the two factors, so does not give us a better insight into the causes of ASMR.

Fig. 2.1.7 – The split of gender of those who experience chronic pain/illness and those
who also experience ASMR
The split of gender who experience chronic

pain/illness and ASMR
35 31
30
24
25
20
15
10
10 6 6 5
5
0
Male Female Non-binary/other
Chronic pain/illness Chronic pain/illness and ASMR

19

Fig. 2.1.8 – The split of those who do and do not experience chronic pain based on
gender.
(a)
Male 10, 7%

125, 93%
Chronic Pain/illness Total
(b)
Female
31, 20%
127, 80%

(c)
Non-binary/other
6, 32%
13, 68%

20
Post-Game Questionnaire
The post-game questionnaire asks participants about how they felt playing each game, to
see if they had any emotional or physical response to the games they played and whether
any specific sounds caused these responses. There are some questions about immersion to
test to see if anything in these games caused the participant to feel more involved with the
game. This testing had 20 participants, although more participants could have been reached
by distributing the game on various online platforms such as reddit or ASMR Facebook
groups, but would allow for discrepancies in the testing as the equipment used would differ
from person to person. Two of the participants didn’t answer all of the questions, and as
such their results will be removed from the later questions. This is because with their results
in it would leave anomalies in the results which could change the outcome of the test
altogether.

The gender split in the testing shows a reasonable split of 60% male participants, 35%
female, and 5% selected ‘Other’ (see Fig. 2.2.1). Only one person selected other as their
gender, who also specified themselves as ‘Non-binary’, so this does not allow much
investigation into how non-binary users would experience the games. The split here is
reasonable for the number of participants in the testing so shouldn’t cause a bias in the
results. The average age of these participants was 21.55, rounded to 22, which is ranging
from 16 to 30 years old.

The data shows that 60% of people tested in the questionnaire currently play video games
often (see Fig. 2.2.2), so have a good understanding of the sort of sounds which would be in
games similar to those tested. This is not a bad thing for the testing, as this shows a
variation in participants, to see if those who rarely play video games have a different
response to the sounds within the game. It could show that those who do not play video
games often are more likely to receive ASMR from the sounds.

The gender split of participants who do play games often is very biased towards male
participants, as seen in Fig. 2.2.3. 83% of male participants tended to play games often
compared to the 29% of female participants and 0% of non-binary. This shows a large bias
as the male participants are more exposed to video games on a daily basis, and as such will
tend to have a more opinionated view of what video game sounds should be like instead of
being fresh to the test and inexperienced.

One of the questions in the questionnaire asks about the participants understanding of
ASMR, to see whether they are aware of the concept. This allows the results of each
person’s ASMR experience to be determined by their prior knowledge of the subject. The
amount of people who do not know what ASMR is in this test was 40%, which is quite a
small amount when testing average people, as ASMR is a mostly unknown subject.
The gender spit of this trend shows that a higher percentage of male participants knew what
ASMR was than the female or non-binary participants as seen in Fig. 2.2.4.

21

Fig. 2.2.1 – Gender split in the video game testing

Fig. 2.2.2 – The split of participants who play video games often

Fig. 2.2.3 – Gender split of those who do and do not play video games often
The Gender Split of Those Who Do and Do Not Play

Games Often
12
10
10
6 5
4
2 2
2 1
0
0
Male Female Non-binary
Play Game Often Do not Play Games Often

22

Fig. 2.2.4 – The gender split of those who know about ASMR vs. those who did not
Number of Participants Who Know About ASMR Vs.

Those Who Do Not
10 9
9
8
7
6
5 4
4 3 3
3
2 1
1 0
0
Male Femal Non-binary
Do know what ASMR is Do No know what ASMR is

The outcome of the testing found that in general, ASMR was experienced in the Rabbit
game more often that the Duck game. This is because the Rabbit game had the ASMR sound
cues, whereas the Duck game had the original game sounds which were not intended to
cause ASMR. The trend shows that 6 male participants answered yes to experiencing ASMR
in the Rabbit game, while only 2 people answered yes to the Duck game (see Fig. 2.2.5). This
shows that the ASMR sound cues tended to increase the amount of ASMR responses that
were perceived to the content, and looks in favour of the hypothesis. A similar result is seen
with the female participants where 4 people claimed to have experienced ASMR to the
Rabbit game, with only 1 person experiencing it from the Duck game. The only case where
no ASMR was experienced was within the non-binary participants. This is because only one
person identified as non-binary in the test, so the results have no backing for any proof.

In addition to this, it was found that the most common sound to cause a ‘strange’ response
in participants for the Duck game was joint between the background music and the voice
overs at 2 votes each (see Fig. 2.2.6). The background music in both games was the same
and didn’t intend to cause any kind of emotional or physical response, hence the sound
being so basic in production. This is an unexpected outcome from the test, however it does
not show any kind of ASMR experience to the sound, instead just a strange feeling. In the
Rabbit game, there is a large contrast for this section of the questionnaire.

The Rabbit game shows a larger response to the coin sounds and voice overs, in both male
and female participants with the only non-binary participant also voting for these two
categories. This shows that the sounds used for these triggers was a success in causing an
ASMR response and tended to trigger a large amount of the participants. The ASMR triggers
used in these two sounds were tapping and whispering, which are two of the most common
triggers found from the initial questionnaire (see Fig. 2.1.4).

23

Fig. 2.2.5 – The gender split in those who experienced ASMR from each game
The amount of people who experienced ASMR

in each game
7 6
6
5 4
4
3 2
2 1
1 0 0
0
Duck Rabbit

Fig. 2.2.6 – Strange feeling to the sounds in Duck game
Strange feelings recieved from the Duck game

3
0
Jump Sounds Background Coin Sounds Death Sounds End Music Voice Overs
Music

Fig. 2.2.7 – Strange feeling to the sounds in the Rabbit game
Strange feelings recieved from the Duck game

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Jump Sounds Background Coin Sounds Death Sounds End Music Voice Overs
Music

24
These results do not necessarily show a trend for those who experienced ASMR from their
test. Instead, the participant is asked if they experienced ASMR while playing each of these
games. These results, shown in Fig. 2.2.8, show that in general the participants experienced
ASMR more commonly on the Rabbit game than the Duck game. This shows that the
response to the ASMR trigger sounds was a success in the game testing, so has somewhat
viable application in commercial use of games design.

In contrast to this, the most important aspect of a game should always be its connection to
the player and their enjoyment. With this in mind, it seems that using the ASMR trigger
sounds in the video game didn’t tend to fill participants with much enjoyment. This is seen
in Fig, 2.2.9, where it is clear that most participants found that the Duck game had the most
fitting sounds, and in general had more fun playing the game with the most fitting sounds.

Fig. 2.2.8 – Participants who experienced ASMR whilst playing either game, where the
Duck game contains the normal game sounds and the Rabbit game contains the ASMR
trigger sounds.
Number of participants who experienced ASMR

from either game
7 6
6
5 4
4
3 2
2 1
1 0 0
0
Duck Game Rabbit Game

Fig. 2.2.9 – Participants’ favourite game based on the most fitting sounds and the most
enjoyment received.
Participants' favoured game
Non-binary votes for Rabbit game
Non-binary votes for Duck game
Female votes for Rabbit game
Female votes for Duck game
Male votes for Rabbit game
Male votes for Duck game
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Most Fitting sounds Most Enjoyable Game

25
With this in mind, each participant was asked to rate how they thought each game was by
selecting the most relevant answer to them. The answers were taken from Zhang, Li and
Sun’s (2006) survey instrument (Appendix C) to measure the participant’s cognitive
absorption and immersion to the game. This does not show any conclusive evidence for the
immersion of each player as the questions asked were too specific for this measure. The
results (Fig. 2.2.10) do however, show that most people find the Duck game to be the most
satisfying to play compared to the Rabbit game. This means that generally people steered
towards the most fitting and ‘normal’ sounds in the video game rather than those which
may cause them to experience ASMR. This is something which will change a person’s
perspective on whether the sounds are fit for purpose or not within a game.

Fig. 2.2.10 – The measurement of how participants felt each game felt, based off of
Zhang, Li and Sun’s (2006) survey instrument (Appendix C)
Participants' thoughts on each game

12
10
Votes on Rabbit Game Votes on Duck Game

26
Conclusion
The results from this investigation point towards a good justification for using ASMR in video
games and large scale commercial games design. As most of the participants found that the
ASMR cues did give them a good reaction and found they allowed them to receive tingles
and other forms of euphoria, it gives a good indication that ASMR is a plausible in audio
application for video games. The drawback with implementing the sounds in a large-scale
project or AAA title game, is the potential ethical dilemmas which can occur from people
having negative reactions to the audio. As this area hasn’t been widely tested and studied,
there is a lot to be unearthed and discovered about the possible uses and applications of the
phenomenon.

From the testing carried out, ASMR cues are acceptable for games, but are not favoured by
players over the intended sounds which would be expected by players. This is most likely
because of the link a person creates with the product they see on the screen, and the
expected sound they would associate with it. An example of this would be watching
someone rattling keys. It would be expected that the keys would make a metallic rattling
sound, whereas if the sound was replaced by the sound wind chimes rattling, it would seem
unfitting. If there is a plausible way to integrate the ASMR cues within the intended audio
cues for the game, it would make a very possible and plausible application for sound
implementation.

When looking at any personality traits or illness which may be linked to ASMR, the results
were inconclusive and showed no connection between illness and ASMR. This does not help
in explaining the causes of ASMR and why only a small percentage of people experience it. It
would be beneficial to do future research into this to find out what truly causes these
reactions in people, and whether or not they are genetic or learnt. This would require a lot
of investigation and a larger sample of people to test on.

Overall the testing was a success, proving that ASMR does work in video games, with those
experiencing ASMR feeling sensations on the expected sound effects within the game. This
shows that ASMR can be commercialised by games designers in future games and sound
design to improve the player’s experience. The implication of these sounds, however, is
something to be looked into, as when the sounds are obvious within the sound design,
players tended not to enjoy the game as much.

The large sample of participants for the initial questionnaire was a huge success, allowing
for some reliable results which shows a good trend between a variety of backgrounds and
cultures. The only downside to this test was the amount of questions which were used, as
many people tended to not fill out every question. This may be because the participants had
other commitments which stopped them from finishing, or they simply didn’t want to sit
through the entire questionnaire. This meant that when analysing the data, some of the
results were not conclusive and couldn’t be added to the analysis.

The results of the game testing had a good range of results which measured a variety of
participants. With more time to perform these tests, a larger sample of people would be
tested from different backgrounds and at different ages. This would help to generalise how
people would react to the different sounds and solidify the answer as to whether or not
27
ASMR cues can be used in video games for immersion purposes. The tests would also need
to be carried out on a more stable and playable game which has more platforms to explore
in order to fully get a good set of results, which can either prove or disprove the hypothesis
set out.

The test concluded that ASMR cues do work in games, but are not currently suitable for
players as they find them to be uncomfortable or unfitting for the purpose of the game. It
would be assumed from this that game designers, at this current time, shouldn’t be
implementing ASMR audio cues into video games as they do not always cause a response
and aren’t what the audience is expecting from their game sounds.
28
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36
Appendices
Appendix A
Questionnaire on personality traits on ASMR users (Barratt and Davis, 2015 (b))

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) questionnaire
Are you…
□ Male □ Female □ Non-binary/other
What is your age?
[drop list of numbers]
Where are you located?
[drop list of locations]
Do you suffer from any chronic pain or illness?
□ Yes □No
Please specify.

Synaesthesia is defined as perception in one sense triggering sensation in another,

unstimulated sense. For example, you may ‘see’ the letters as having colours, or sense
shapes from music. For further elaboration, see here:
http://www.uksynaesthesia.com/whatis.html
Do you have any type of synaesthesia?
□ Yes □No
If so, please elaborate.

Do you take any medications?

□ Yes □No
Please specify which medications you take.

Do you watch ASMR videos?

□ Yes □No
How many ASMR videos do you typically watch in a single session?
[drop list of numbers]
What time of day do you usually watch ASMR videos?
□ Upon Waking
□ Mid-morning
□ Mid-day
□ Afternoon
□ Evening
37
□ Before sleeping
□ Whenever I have spare time
Do you require specific conditions to achieve ASMR?

□ Yes □No
Please briefly describe the conditions you require to achieve ASMR sensations (e.g. busy
room, bright lighting, etc.)

Do you feel a tingling sensation when watching ASMR videos?

□ Yes □No
Are these tingling sensations triggered by specific stimuli?
□ Yes □No
Please tick all the items that trigger your tingling sensations while viewing ASMR
videos.
□ Crisp sounds □ Aeroplane noise □ Slow movements
(e.g. tapping, □ Laughing a lot □ A specific
crinkling plastic) and doing all the combination of
□ Whispering things that make two or more of
□ Water pouring you happy these options
□ Personal □ Smiling (please

elaborate)
attention (e.g. □ Watching
face touching) repetitive tasks
□ Other (please
elaborate)
□ Vacuuming (e.g. towel
folding)
Please briefly elaborate on your selection of 'A specific combination of two or more of
these options'.

Please briefly describe any 'other' triggers. Please separate triggers by commas (e.g.
tickling, dog walking, trainspotting...).

Do any stimuli stop or prevent this tingling sensation from continuing?

□ Yes □No
What stimuli will stop any tingling sensation you are feeling? Please be brief and use as
few words as possible.
38

Does this tingling sensation always originate in one area of your body?
□ Yes □No
Where can your tingles originate?
□ Head □ Arms □ Hips
□ Shoulders □ Stomach/lower □ Legs
□ Chest abdomen □ Feet
□ Back □ Genitals
Do you feel this tingling sensation more on one side of your body than the other?
□ Yes, left □ Yes, right. □ No, both sides are the same.
Does the intensity of these tingles vary from session to session of ASMR video viewing?
□ Yes □No
Does the intensity of these tingles vary at different times during a session of ASMR
video viewing?
□ Yes □No
What increases the intensity of the tingling sensation?
□ Sounds that I like □ Visuals I don’t □ Sounds I don’t
□ Visuals that I like expect expect
□ Visuals I don’t □ Sounds I don’t □ Other

like like
Does more intense tingling result in the sensation moving to other areas of your body?
□ Yes □No
Please tick the body areas that experience tingles when the sensation is most intense.
□ Head
□ Shoulders
□ Chest
□ Back
□ Arms
□ Stomach/lower
abdomen
□ Genitals
□ Hips
□ Legs
□ Feet
39
How long does the tingling sensation normally last?
Is the tingling sensation triggered more easily by hearing in one ear than the other?
□Yes, my left ear. □ Yes, my right ear. □ No, both ears are the same.
Does your medication affect your experience of tingling at all?
□ Yes □No
At what age did you first experience this tingling sensation?
Do you have any family members that experience ASMR?

□ Yes □ No □ Unsure/I’ve never asked
Are your tingling sensations/ASMR triggered by anything other than online videos?
□ Yes □ No
What other stimuli trigger your tingling sensations/ASMR? Please describe briefly.

Please rate the following statements in terms of how true they are for you while
experiencing tingles.
• My attention is focused entirely on what I am watching.

Completely
Not my representative of
experience at all my experience
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• My attention is focused entirely on what I am feeling.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• Time seems to alter (slow down or speed up).
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• Things seem to happen automatically.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
40
• It is no effort to keep my mind on what is happening.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I feel totally in control.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• Time seems to stop.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I am not worried about what people think of me.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Do you feel that watching ASMR videos has an effect on your mood?
□ Yes □ No
Please select the statement that most applies to you.
□ I feel a change in my mood only when I experience tingling.
□ I feel a change in my mood whether or not I experience tingling.
□ I feel no change in my mood during ASMR.
How would you rate your mood in these instances? (0 = terrible, the / worst I've ever
felt, 100 = Euphoric, the best I've ever felt)
• My mood just before I watch ASMR videos
▼
0 25 50 75 100
• My mood during a successful ASMR video session
▼
0 25 50 75 100
• My mood when I finish a successful ASMR video session
41
▼
0 25 50 75 100
• My mood 30 minutes after a successful ASMR session
▼
0 25 50 75 100
• My mood an hour after a successful ASMR video session
▼
0 25 50 75 100
• My mood 3 hours after a successful ASMR session
▼
0 25 50 75 100
• My mood the day after a successful ASMR video session
▼
0 25 50 75 100
• My mood generally during day to day life
▼
0 25 50 75 100
Do you feel that watching ASMR videos had an effect on your symptoms of chronic
illness or pain?
□ Yes □ No
□ I feel a change in my symptoms only when I experience tingling.
□ I feel a change in my symptoms whether or not I experience tingling.
□ I feel no change in my symptoms during ASMR.
PLEASE ANSWER ONLY IF YOU SUFFER FROM SYMPTOMS OF CHRONIC
ILLNESS OR PAIN. How would you rate the intensity of your symptoms of chronic
illness or pain at these times? 0 = No pain, I wouldn't know I had a condition, 100 = The
worst I have ever felt my symptoms.
• Intensity of chronic illness/pain just before I watch ASMR videos.
▼
0 25 50 75 100
42
• Intensity of chronic illness/pain during an ASMR video session.
▼
0 25 50 75 100
• Intensity of chronic illness/pain just after a successful ASMR video session.
▼
0 25 50 75 100
• Intensity of chronic illness/pain an hour after a successful ASMR video session.
▼
0 25 50 75 100
• Intensity of chronic illness/pain the day after a successful ASMR video session.
▼
0 25 50 75 100
• Intensity of chronic illness/pain during day to day life.
▼
0 25 50 75 100
Do you feel that watching ASMR videos helps with your sleeping issues?
□ Yes □ No
□ I feel a change in my symptoms only when I experience tingling.
□ I feel a change in my symptoms whether or not I experience tingling.
□ I feel no change in my symptoms during ASMR.
Please rate the following statements in terms of how well you feel they apply to you and
your experience of watching ASMR videos.
• I watch ASMR videos to relieve negative mood.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I don't know why I watch ASMR videos.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
43
• I enjoy ASMR videos.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I know what triggers my ASMR.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I enjoy the content of ASMR videos even without tingles.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I watch ASMR videos to relax.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I watch ASMR videos to deal with anxiety.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I watch ASMR videos to deal with stress.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I watch ASMR videos to help me sleep.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
44
• I watch ASMR videos as a hobby.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I watch ASMR videos to help me focus.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I watch ASMR videos to ease chronic physical pain.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I watch ASMR videos for sexual stimulation.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I watch ASMR videos to help with a mental health issue other than depression or
anxiety.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
• I watch ASMR videos to help with depression.
Completely
1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
45
Appendix B
Altered Version of the Questionnaire
PDF File – Altered Questionnaire

46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60

61
Appendix C
Zhang, Li and Sun’s Survey Instrument (2006)
62
Appendix D – Altered Questionnaire Answers NEEDSS UPDATING
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93

94
Appendix D – Post-game Survey Questions
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104

Appendix E – Audio Management Script
105
Appendix F – Camera script

Appendix G – Cloud movement script
106
Appendix H – Data Management Script
107
Appendix I – Enemy Health Script

Appendix J – Player Health Script
108

Appendix K – Enemy Movement Script

Appendix L – Main Menu Script
109
Appendix M – Player Movement Script
110
Appendix N – Player Score Script
111
Appendix O - Sound Script
112
Appendix P – Results of the post-game questionnaire
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127

128
Appendix Q – Ethical Approval Form
Nottingham Trent University
School of Art and Design

Ethical Clearance Checklist for individual student projects

To be completed by the student for an individual project that involves the collection of primary data this includes images, drawings, photographs,
questionnaires and interviews. Please complete this document following the guidance in the School of Art and Design Ethical Guidelines and
Framework for Research and Practice Undertaken by Students.

Section A: About the research

Name: Andrew Richardson
Programme of Study: BSc(H) Audio and Music Technology
Module Title and Reference Number: VEPT30006: Technology Investigation

Name of module leader/supervisor responsible for the management of the project Kim Guest & Ken Liston
Duration of project 8 months
Project title An Investigation Into Autonomous Sensory
Meridian Response as a Basis For Video Game
Audio Application.

Section B: Training and experience

Have you had previous experience of or been trained in the methods employed to collect data, and/or discussed with your yes no
supervisor?
Have you been informed, given guidance, had issues outlined in relation to research ethics and consideration in relation to your yes no
project?

Section C: Methodology/Practice/Procedures

Does your proposed study involve procedures which are likely to cause physical, psychological, social or emotional distress to yes No
participants or yourself?
Does your proposed study involve the use of hazardous materials, other than those currently covered by the School Health and yes no
Safety procedures?

Section D: Ethical checklist

Does your project involve observing/questioning/the use of people in any way?
Yes Please complete the remainder of the form
No Go straight to Compliance with ethical principles and Declaration
Does your study involve vulnerable participants as described in the Student Ethical Toolkit? yes no n/a
Does your study involve observation and/or recording of identifiable participants without their knowledge? yes no n/a
Will participants give informed consent freely and be fully informed of the study and of the use of any data collected? yes no n/a
Will participants be informed of their right to withdraw from the study? yes no n/a
Will all information on participants be treated as confidential and not identifiable unless agreed otherwise in advance yes no n/a
and subject to legal requirements?
Will any recordings of participants be securely kept and not released for use by third parties? yes no n/a
Will storage data comply with the Data Protection Act 1998? yes no n/a

If you have selected an answer shaded in grey, you must submit a full application to the Subject REC or modify the project. A full submission
to the Subject PREC comprises of: this form, a project proposal, an additional statement of up to 500 words outlining the ethical issues raised by
the project and the proposed approach to deal with these.

Compliance with Ethical Principles
If you have completed the checklist to the best of your knowledge without selecting an answer shaded in grey, the research is deemed to conform
with the ethical checkpoints and you do not need to seek formal approval from the Subject PREC.
Please sign the declaration below, and lodge the completed checklist with your supervisor.

Declaration
I have read the Ethical Guidelines and Framework for Research and Practice Undertaken by Students. I confirm that the above named
investigation complies with published codes of conduct, ethical principles and guidelines of professional bodies associated with the research
discipline.

Form reviewed October 2011, final copy 14.10.11

129

130

131
Appendix R – Transcript of communication Nick Davis and Emma Barratt
132

133

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AN

INVESTIGATION INTO AUTONOMOUS

Andrew Richardson – N0775964

Male Female Non-binary/Other

Graph Showing The Most Common ASMR Triggers

Male Female Non-binary/Other

The split of gender who experience chronic

Chronic pain/illness Chronic pain/illness and ASMR

Chronic Pain/illness Total

Chronic Pain/illness Total

Chronic Pain/illness Total

The Gender Split of Those Who Do and Do Not Play

Play Game Often Do not Play Games Often

Number of Participants Who Know About ASMR Vs.

Do know what ASMR is Do No know what ASMR is

The amount of people who experienced ASMR

Strange feelings recieved from the Duck game

Male Female Non-binary

Strange feelings recieved from the Duck game

Male Female Non-binary

Number of participants who experienced ASMR

Duck Game Rabbit Game

Participants' favoured game

Non-binary votes for Rabbit game

Non-binary votes for Duck game

Female votes for Rabbit game

Female votes for Duck game

Male votes for Rabbit game

Male votes for Duck game

Most Fitting sounds Most Enjoyable Game

Participants' thoughts on each game

Votes on Rabbit Game Votes on Duck Game

Synaesthesia is defined as perception in one sense triggering sensation in another,

Do you take any medications?

Do you watch ASMR videos?

Do you require specific conditions to achieve ASMR?

Do you feel a tingling sensation when watching ASMR videos?

□ Personal □ Smiling (please

Do any stimuli stop or prevent this tingling sensation from continuing?

□ Visuals I don’t □ Sounds I don’t □ Other

Do you have any family members that experience ASMR?

• My attention is focused entirely on what I am watching.

• My mood during a successful ASMR video session

• My mood when I finish a successful ASMR video session

• My mood 30 minutes after a successful ASMR session

• My mood an hour after a successful ASMR video session

• My mood 3 hours after a successful ASMR session

• My mood the day after a successful ASMR video session

• My mood generally during day to day life

• Intensity of chronic illness/pain just after a successful ASMR video session.

• Intensity of chronic illness/pain an hour after a successful ASMR video session.

• Intensity of chronic illness/pain during day to day life.

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