Search for 'Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response', or ASMR, on YouTube and you will find an online community of video makers and watches who give each other the 'tingles'. Some of these videos are viewed millions of times and the popular ASMR artists have hundreds of thousands of loyal fans who hinge on every whisper and intimate sound they make. While outsiders might think ASMR is plain weird, those on the inside say these videos calm you down and help you sleep, and can even help ease anxiety and depression.

Radio producer and sound lover Belinda Lopez stumbled across this YouTube community and became curious and later transfixed by this world of 'tingles'. In this radio feature, Belinda talks to some of the big name international ASMR video makers, searches for the science (does it exist?) and finds herself making videos of her own.

Belinda Lopez is a writer, radio producer and documentary maker.

Additional sound recordings of children whispering by Jane Ulman. Music from Corsica S. Featuring the work of ASMR artists Gentle Whispering ASMR and Heather Feather.