Once when I was doing outbound phone calls I called a man who answered the phone in the most lucious Scottish accent, and I actually had to hang up on them because my only response was idiotic noises. Then there was the time I was doing support for a man with a low voice who had an English accent that was just a hair rougher than Standard BBC, and he said my name in this low, delighted tone, and I actually said "glurble." His "What was that, love?" did not help.
I have had the shiver down my spine at wonderful things, but GentleWhisperer made me go "You're up to something, what are you up to? Who do you work for!"
And that Irish whispering video gave me tingles. Cool, I have a minority condition that's nifty, for a change.
That one didn't bother me, but it didn't make me tingle either. I think I may be too bothered by sibilance to get tingly at whispers.
"Wait, are you telling me you don't have that tingly sensation when someone whispers or speaks quietly in an accent? I thought everyone did."
Nope. In fact, the hissy bits can exacerbate a headache.
Crap, Delta is right and I'm wrong. Now I have to repack all of our bags.
whispering
I once kicked a man out of my hotel room for doing that.
I definitely have ASMR, only realizing it was common from that Slate article a few months back. I was hoping someone would bring it up here! Those whisper videos freak me out but the description at the top of the TAL piece about the friend and the dolls? OH MY GOD. I have a coworker who, for no reason, whispers while he is in my office and I don't tell him he is being excessively cautious because it puts me in a trance.
The very premise of that cautious gentle low voice makes me want to go all ultraviolent. Unlike Sue, though, it's not the sibilance, once I get past the "DON'T YOU FUCKING TRY TO GENTLE ME YOU CREEPY MOTHERFUCKER WHO I AM NOW SETTING ON FIRE" reaction, I'm especially grossed out by the wet lippy noises smacking and popping into the mike.
A creepy lady telling me about the colour of my eyes and the softness of my skin is never going to not weird me out if it's not individually targeted. That first one failed on a whole lot of fronts. If you want to treat me like a skittish foal who hasn't accepted the bridle yet, at least try and trick me, or something. Yeah, I need to be tricked.
If you want to lull me, however, go with something deep and reverby--get those vocal cords working in there, not whistling shit.
Is accent supposed to affect ASMR people more strongly?
TAL did a segment last week on ASMR [link]. At the end of it, I turned to J and said, "Wait, are you telling me you don't have that tingly sensation when someone whispers or speaks quietly in an accent? I thought everyone did."
Heh - I totally get the tickle down the spine thing.
