ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response, is a pleasant physical or emotional feeling (not based in science) triggered most often by soft sounds such as vocal fry, rustling leaves, crinkling paper, or scratching dry skin. It’s become a huge YouTube genre, and popular accounts like ASMR Darling and Gibi ASMR have hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

Some of these videos were intentionally made as ASMR triggers — others, like episodes from Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting, just happened to include the triggers by accident. The dude has a weird, soothing voice.

It’s a pretty broad genre and yeah, sometimes it’s a sex thing, but the basic gist is that certain sounds can make people feel relaxed — even euphoric. People often experience tingling sensations, and ASMR video creators describe what they do as akin to massaging the brain.

If videos aren’t your thing and you want all the chilling without the uneasy eye contact with a YouTube personality, you can now mix your own ASMR sounds with the ASMRION generator. The tool lets you mix and match and adjust the volume on eight different popular ASMR sounds including “forest at dawn after the rain,” a bonfire, a snowstorm, crinkling bubble wrap, and a “tapping / scratching / brushing” combo. The default mix sounds exactly like the background noise in the 2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone PC game. I’ve never had much of a reaction to an ASMR video — despite attending a two-hour ASMR workshop at which we had to massage each other’s heads — but I dig it.

The tool is fun to play with but also a little unsettling if you’re not ready to hear the disembodied voice of a man growl at you about using a typewriter. If that’s all you want to hear, then here is a link to the original track. It’s not my preference.

This generator came to our attention via the r/InternetisBeautiful subreddit, where one user suggests, “click every one on and crank that shit to 11 to hear demons speaking to you through hellfire.” It’s certainly one way to spend your lunch break!