Hull-based charity, Concrete Youth has released the findings of their ground-breaking research project, The ASMR Project.
The project took place in the summer of 2021 with the aim of measuring the impact of autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) on people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, before establishing it as a new sensory experience for them and debuting it in a new, multi-sensory theatre production.
ASMR signifies the subjective experience of “low-grade euphoria characterised by “a combination of positive feelings and a distinct static-like tingling sensation on the skin”. It is most commonly triggered by specific auditory or visual stimuli, and less commonly by intentional attention control.
A genre of videos intended to induce ASMR has emerged, over 13 million of which had been published on YouTube by 2018. Despite people with PMLD often being called ‘sensory beings’, ASMR is a sensory experience that, before this project, had been little used with them. Concrete Youth’s project examined and explored how ASMR benefits and impacts people with PMLD, before exploring how ASMR could be integrated into a new multi-sensory theatre production. The charity worked with 750 people with PMLD across the UK to examine the impact of ASMR on people with PMLD and explored how the sensory experience can be translated on stage.
The findings have now been published in the PMLD sector’s leading journal, PMLD Link to share the data and details of the project with academics, education settings, carers and other specialists of people with PMLD.
Concrete Youth’s CEO & Co-Artistic Director, Daniel Swift FRSA said: “We were so delighted to undertake this ambitious and trailblazing project to bring a new sensory experience to life for our audience. Since we completed the research project in August 2021, people from across the country have contacted Concrete Youth telling us how the project inspired them to use ASMR as a sensory experience with their loved ones, with families, schools and residential settings through stories, night-time routines, and for relaxation activities. We’re delighted that this is a direct result of our work on this project, and we’re so excited that we’re able to share our findings through PMLD Link’s 100th edition, so more people in the sector can discover ASMR and its benefits for individuals with PMLD.”
Annie Fergusson from PMLD Link said: “We are thrilled to be able to include an article about Concrete Youth’s recent ASMR Project in our 100th edition of PMLD Link journal. We know our readers will be keen to read how the findings of this fascinating research translate into their future plans – to offer more engaging sensory theatre opportunities for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD).
We wish them every success in the next phase of their work to bring ever more exciting and entertaining theatre experiences to their audiences of children and adults with PMLD.”
Concrete Youth’s article in PMLD Link can be read by ordering a copy of the journal at www.pmldlink.org.uk/subscribe.