Recently I had occasion to browse YouTube using a smart TV. The app for YouTube browsing turns out to be a cut down of the version available via a web browser. For a start the shuffle function does not exist, the ability to skip adverts does not crop up and it took some searching to find the Procrastination Pen channel at all.
However, I am pleased to report that despite all that, the playlist still stands up pretty well even when forced to play each video in order. Some of those early videos have become like old friends now.
It also gave me the chance to identify the odd one that is ripe for weeding and push it over into the archive list – by this mechanism does the main Procrastination Pen playlist keep being refined and improved.
Today’s video is this one:
Head-to-Toe Assessment NR 304
Comments are permitted and we can see that ASMR fans have already been here and done that. NR304 turns out to be a nursing exam. The online references to it appear to come from Chamberlain University College of Nursing but that is not to say it is the only university to offer it.
The video is twelve and three quarter minutes long so a good average length for a medical examination video. And this seems to be again another video produced by students as part of their course. (we have a great deal of experience of this now and the results can be somewhat variable).
There is some background noise. There are conversations happening nearby both are quite distracting.
The medical professional is “Nadia”. She has a great voice which is somewhat overshadowed by the other conversations just off camera.
The “patient” is Jackie Santiago (almost certainly misspelled) with DoB 6/9/97. However, thereby is a trap for the unwary, this is the US dating system so almost certainly 09/06/1997, so June therefore.
Each of the participants has a tunic with a crest on it which is just a little too fuzzy for me to make out the name of the institution.
However, the Chamberlain University College of Nursing has a very similar logo.
So it could be that this is the location.
Chamberlain appears to be in Addison Illinois and unsurprisingly it has its own YouTube channel.
This is filled with the kind of promotional videos we have come to expect from such channels.
The channel is Nadia Hussain. This has just one video posted there years ago at the time I am looking at it, yet despite this there are four hundred and two subscribers. This is quite amazing and possibly speaks to the ASMR-y nature of this video.
I would completely be in accordance with that if the extraneous noises were not punctuating this video. It is also a shame, given the nature of her voice, that Nadia did not post any further videos.
In the brief intervals where no conversations from elsewhere are overheard this is a very good video. It even lacks oppressive air conditioning noises (which is very rare as we know).
Sadly, there is no more from Nadia, she does not seem to have any other channel, so presumably she went on to make good her career and never looked back. Good luck Nadia, but very sad for us.
So until next time then.
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
I am continually reminded that there is nothing new under the sun. I spend so much time on YouTube now that I sometimes inadvertently happen upon something which I was not really searching for. Recently I discovered that the Procrastination Pen is not the only channel trying to put together a playlist connected with sleep. (On reflection I suspect that there are many of these).
I found that the channel Zbizzle has a playlist just entitled “Sleep”. At the time of looking, it has twenty-eight videos and four thousand two hundred and thirty views so none too shabby. I am listing it because you may be interested in checking it out.
The videos seem to be compiled from professional ASMR channels and so quite different to the approach that I have been taking. It might form an interesting contrast to the Procrastination Pen playlist.
Sadly, Zbizzle has not included any details about themselves in their channel (other than that they joined in 2012 – so somewhat before the Procrastination Pen).
I have not reviewed the sleep playlist myself; I’ve been a bit busy reviewing my own list. I can’t either recommend or criticise, I simply offer it up in case you haven’t found it yourself and you fancy giving it a try.
Back to the Procrastination Pen and the video being appraised today, this being:
Hannah’s Head to Toe assessment
At just less than forty-two minutes this one is a real thoroughgoing test. Recently we have been used to videos quite a bit shorter than that.
The title immediately strikes me as possibly being to do with a student assessment video which we have seen a number of in the past.
The focus looks a bit off, the distance of the subjects as if they are at the end of a long tunnel, both participants reasonably young in appearance.
The patient is introduced as “Miss Strickland” but the channel is “David Strickland” – there is no indication as to how that is the case. A possible gender change individual perhaps?
The background noise is not too oppressive thankfully, there is no introductory music for which may the Lord make us truly thankful. The medical professional does not introduce herself but jumping ahead the second video on this channel may iron that one out – of which more later.
There are no notes associated with the video which does indicate a non-professional video as we have noted. Professional videos tend to have notes associated with them.
There are comments, and as usual the comments are unhelpful. (I’ve formed the view that denying comments is probably a wise move with videos on YouTube).
There are no ASMR-related comments which may mean this is a find or it is a terrible video.
The sound is somewhat muted, which we have heard before and might be connected with the quality of microphone employed.
The delivery is as we have grown used to; the individual is assessed and so has to rattle off a certain amount of terminology in order to get a grade. (I surmise this in that most of the videos produced apparently as part of a course all seem to progress in the same way).
Videos of this type always seem to involve the “medical professional” consulting with some kind of mental checklist in a fairly rigid manner, up to the laughable “privacy” provision sections, where the poor student draws an invisible (i.e. non-existent) curtain.
The delivery is slightly loud and a little hesitant. It is obvious that the “medical professional“ keeps forgetting where they are supposed to be in the examination.
Regular readers will now be thoroughly familiar with cranial nerve tests now of course including some that are delivered by professionals.
The medical professional keeps pausing delivery, presumably in an effort to remember exactly what it is that is supposed to come next. Towards the end she actively consults her notes. But of course, for the purpose which we wish to put this to, which is to lie there and to listen, this need not be too distracting.
I love the way that she pronounces “Lazy eye”, a very different way to enunciate those two words to what I am used to.
The channel is David Strickland, perhaps a relative of Hannah Strickland who we saw as the patient in that first video.
The second video features the same participants but in a reversal of the roles:
Danielle’s Head to Toe Assessment
The key is that the medical professional of the former video was Danielle and in this one Danielle is actually the patient. There remain no clues as to where this actual medical establishment is.
The comments remain unhelpful and there are still no notes. The focus remains on the fuzzy side and the background noise is still muted. This one comes in at a little under thirty-eight and a half minutes.
Hannah starts off a little loud. The introductions are somewhat brief and definitely not enough to give much information about course, institution, more details of the participants and other information that I often use to determine that the video is a legitimate one and not from an ASMR professional. (From the appearance of it, I somewhat doubt it is the latter).
Given the paucity of the number of videos and the complete absence of playlists, two hundred and twenty-two subscribers is a really good result. One certainly gets the idea that the video was never intended to be out there in the greater public and, given both videos are both posted in 2014, any related course is long gone by now.
Part way through Hannah’s voice is completely masked by a background noise sounding like the microphone has been placed in a wind tunnel. Almost as if someone was hoovering it with a 1950s vacuum which had not received regular maintenance in the last seventy years. That is really quite distracting.
As before, the presentation is hesitant with some wrong steps being taken and some parts forgotten and returned to later.
There are obvious pauses as elements are recalled. Like the first video of this article in fact.
We discover that Danielle was born April 6th 1994 but the location is given merely as “nursing lab” which doesn’t help much in tracking down the institution – oh for an identifying badge or similar.
The David Strickland playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening experience to log on, this interrupts the listening experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.
If you’ve been reading the Procrastination Pen for a while you will have come across the theory that people have a much more gentle and quiet approach to examinations when dealing with small people.
What could be better to test if this is consistent or just an occasional occurrence than to occasionally feature an examination with a small person and to observe whether such videos are better in terms of volume and method.
Universities have so far been pretty good for videos but they are also often a huge source of self-promotional material involving MGM style soundtracks and Saachi and Saachi motivational messages. There is, therefore, a mass of material to look at and quite a lot of it is unsuitable for us.
The University of Leicester though, in common with Warwick University, who we saw before, has a number of teaching videos and some of those are very good. Today’s video is sadly very brief at just shy of five minutes in duration.
Paediatric Clinical Examinations – The Abdomen
It includes comments and as expected a number of the comments are not helpful. Reading between the lines though, I think ASMR fans are here well before I am. This is something that we have come to expect now.
It is a professional video and so of course it has notes associated with it:
“30 Jul 2014
This is a real-time demonstration illustrating the technique and parent and child interaction involved in the examination of the abdominal system of a child.
The film was produced by a paediatrician to aid the teaching of clinical examination skills. It starts where the history has been taken, and the clinical examination is about to commence.
Written and presented by Dr Elaine Carter, Emeritus Consultant Paediatrician, MA, MB ChB, MRCP, FRCPCH, MMedSci.
This film was produced by External Relations, University of Leicester.
Filmed & Edited by Carl Vivian
Written & Produced by Elaine Carter”
There is no – I mean zero – music at the start of the video – Warwick take note. This is such a welcome difference.
We are introduced to mum Sophie and her son Alex, who, it has to be said, looks suitably anxious. There is limited background noise; no obvious air conditioning noises for example.
The presentation is lovely and gentle. So far, the theory about small people is vindicated yet again.
I never expected a child to be this calm when having his abdomen probed in such a deep manner. Perhaps the presentation is just a little loud but that is a minor criticism and is only possible because other aspects of the video are so right.
Interestingly, I found the video is now in the Internet Archive the first time I have ever found that to be the case.
This channel is simply huge, 1.3K videos at the date I am looking at it. Eighty-seven playlists and few of these are anything that we could use.
However searching the Internet Archive, discovered earlier, we find that Elaine is also involved in another video of a similar type.
This video, as luck would have it, is also present on YouTube:
Paediatric Clinical Examinations – The Respiratory System
This one seems to have been filmed before the previous one in that this is the first time we are introduced to Alex.
Again, there are notes: “30 Jul 2014
This is a real-time demonstration illustrating the technique and parent and child interaction involved in the examination of the respiratory system of a child.
The film was produced by a paediatrician to aid the teaching of clinical examination skills. It starts where the history has been taken, and the clinical examination is about to commence.
Written and presented by Dr Elaine Carter, Emeritus Consultant Paediatrician, MA, MB ChB, MRCP, FRCPCH, MMedSci.
This film was produced by External Relations, University of Leicester.
Filmed & Edited by Carl Vivian
Written & produced by Elaine Carter”
As before there is no startup music. If it wasn’t the fact that there would be so little material to work with, I would only select videos that lacked startup music (and tail end music as well for that).
We are also introduced to Ellie, Alex’s sister, Alex looks suitably bored, possibly because his sister is the focus of attention in this video.
It is another brief one at just less than six- and three-quarter minutes.
The presentation style here, if anything, is quieter than with the previous video. Ellie seems calm, even happy at intervals.
The comments are variable as always but again reading between the lines this is also already known to the ASMR community.
That’s it for this time.
The University of Leicester playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.
I think I can conclude, after quite a few ASMR articles, that nursing is an absolute gift to the ASMR community. There are nursing students who post assessment videos. There are various nursing disciplines that require additional training. Much of that training apparently needs videos. Then there are the tuition videos designed to help nurses improve their expertise and log continuing professional development hours.
With nursing, GPs, and physicians we have videos which are commonly dedicated to medical examination material and this can be quite restful.
In my one blog post per week, I have hardly scraped the surface of everything that seems to be out there in this area. I may, one day, happen upon an even more productive area (paediatrics currently is a little explored area for example). But for the moment thank God for all the nurses out there and the efforts that they put in.
Today’s is from a channel dedicated to nursing it is this:
01.03 The 5 Minute Assessment Physical assessment
Despite the claims of its title the video is nearly six minutes in length.
There are no notes, which is unusual for a professionally produced video. Comments are permitted. Mostly these are unhelpful, but they do lead me to suspect that a number of people listening to this video are ASMR fans.
Oh no introductory music. Thankfully though, it is brief and unsurprisingly, for a video that declares it is all going to happen in five minutes, the pace sets off pretty rapidly and perhaps not as quietly as I would like.
The patient self-identifies as, I think, “Tammy Hawes” but that is probably misspelled. Once the examination begins things start to quieten down, but the pace certainly does not slow any.
The channel is “Nursing made easy” this has one hundred and seventy-two videos at the time I am looking at it and eight hundred and ninety-nine subscribers. That is rather a lot of videos/subscribers.
There are six playlists. One of these has seventy-four videos in it.
However examining the videos in overview, it appears that the titles denote a series. Posted one year ago are four videos with titles ranging from 01.02 to 01.05.
A quick scan of the remainder reveals that few if any will be suitable for our purposes.
The first is this one:
01.02 Barriers to Health Assessment
At just less than eight and a half minutes, the title doesn’t obviously sound like one for us. There are, again, no notes but this time no comments either. There is introductory music again. Then that frenetic pace of presentation (but this time in roadrunner proportions).
I imagine people actually play this one on half speed if they are trying to study it properly.
This really isn’t for the Procrastination Pen playlist.
01.03 is where we came in of course.
01.04 Adult Vital Signs
This is just less than five and a half minutes so another short one. Again, there are no notes and, perhaps thankfully, no comments either. That, accursed, introductory music of course. But after that start the pace is somewhat slower than with the previous two videos. It still isn’t what you would call slow though.
In this one neither patient nor the nurse doing the examination actually get to say anything, it is all about the narrator.
I think the videos in this particular blog article are probably all borderline restful. They are just good enough for the Procrastination Pen playlist but potentially liable to weeding on subsequent review.
The last video in this particular set is this one:
01.05 Pediatric Vital Signs
This is a bit of a segue in fact; the numbering system obviously linking more to the originating course than to the people delivering the examination, the patient, or even the specific subject area.
This one is just less than six and a quarter minutes long. As before there are no notes and no comments. As before the annoying start up music. As before the pace is pretty fast.
This is more a course-delivery video than a medical-examination video. It is not especially restful (although I’m sure if you are on the specific course, it is very informative).
This is not really for the Procrastination Pen playlist
The Nursing made easy playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
Once upon a time I had a job which required me to get up at 4am and sadly the habit stays in my mind. This means that if something wakes me close to 4am that is pretty much any sleep done for me. I was awakened by a loud clang in one of the videos recently so I have embarked upon a campaign of weeding the main Procrastination Pen playlist to take loud clang-containing videos out of it.
As I have relayed many times in this blog, if there were a feature to edit the videos down such that removal of the noisy bits were feasible then I would do it.
In some cases, simply truncating the video such that it started later or finished earlier would do that. I do not own the videos. Wars with copyright solicitors sound tiresome (and doomed to failure) and I do not want to act as an archive for other people’s videos.
However, if someone knows of a method by which I can set the start time of the video in the YouTube playlist (and preferably the end time as well), let me know.
It is likely that some of the videos are more likely to survive in the main Procrastination Pen playlist for longer if some of that jarring start-up music were consigned to the bin for example.
Today’s video is continuing in the theme we have enjoyed for some weeks now, which is of medical examinations which may engender relaxation or in some people, ASMR symptoms. The motivation being to get off to sleep more swiftly and to remain asleep as long as your mind will permit you to do so.
The Rheumatology Exam
Slightly less than half an hour so a bit longer than some we have evaluated of late. The patient appears to be yellow, which I assume is a camera artefact rather than some regrettable condition that he has developed.
It is a professional video and in common with a number of such videos has some notes associated with it: “22 Jan 2016
A video on the main points of the rheumatology exam.
The video was created as part of the Top Hat Tutorials app, a new doctor and student designed guide to the clinical examinations in medicine and surgery.
‘TOP HAT TUTORIALS’ is available in the Apple, Google and Windows app stores today.
Reached number 1 medical app in its first week of launch!
A must have for medical students no matter where they are studying.
The URLs have not been tested – but we have found that download links that old are often orphaned – there is no telling where you might end up clicking such things.
Comments are permitted (bring on the trolls) they confirm that ASMR fans are here in number and so this is no revolutionary find on my part (which is also what we have come to expect).
Oh no start-up music, but at least it is muted. Please video-recording-people have mercy on the sleeping.
The medical professional is Dr Tom Brian (almost certainly misspelled). The patient is Luke – I feel on stronger ground spelling wise there.
The narration also appears to be Dr Tom and he has a good voice for our purposes. His approach is methodical and unhurried. Pretty well ideal in fact.
The channel is Top Hat Tutorials, there are one hundred and forty-two videos on this channel and 38.6K subscribers – phewee.
The latest such videos seem to be posted three years ago. The oldest seven years ago.
There are three playlists the shortest of which contains thirteen videos, which might be sufficient to be excessively distracting to anyone popping into this blog for a swift read.
Dr Tom appears in quite a few of them and so does Luke.
Therefore I decided to narrow the number of videos by searching the channel for videos associated with “Rheumatology”. This gives us eight videos of which ours is one of the longest.
These are as follows:
The Rheumatological examination of the Hands
Six and three quarter minutes so it is short even by our recent standards. As before there are notes “23 Jan 2016
A video of the main points of the rheumatological exam of the hands.
The video was created as part of the Top Hat Tutorials app, a new doctor and student designed guide to the clinical examinations in medicine and surgery.
‘TOP HAT TUTORIALS’ is available in the Apple, Google and Windows app stores today.
Reached number 1 medical app in its first week of launch!
A must have for medical students no matter where they are studying.
As before comments are permitted and again many are not helpful. There are no obviously ASMR-related comments this time though. Again with the start-up music, can it people.
This time Dr Tom is narrating (well I’m pretty certain it is him) and the patient is Luke.
It is beautifully measured in presentation and Dr Tom has a great voice. Although this is better in the examination part of the video as it is more modulated than in the narration part (where people always seem to believe that volume is a requirement).
The Rheumatology Exam
This, of course is where we came in.
The Rheumatological Examination of the Ankles and Feet
This one is even more brief at just under three and a half minutes. The notes are pretty repetitive so I will not go into them again for this one.
The comments are as helpful as a person determined to be unhelpful and there are no ASMR-related comments.
These videos are so consistent it is probably of minimum utility to go into each one. However, I feel it important to review them all up front in case of any unwelcome surprises (a brass band playing trumpet voluntary at minute two for example, actually there are some YouTube adverts which are equally jarring).
The theme for these videos consists of: startup music, Dr Tom – narrator, Dr Tom performs examination, Luke patient. Dr Tom has a consistently good voice during the examination, slightly less so in narration.
I suspect all of the videos to be identical in approach and this is one of the great advantages of professionally produced videos – i.e., their consistency.
The Rheumatological Examination of the Back
Unhelpful comments persist. YouTube comments are like the wall in a public urinal, I think. (Although I have yet to find any mouldy and hardened chewing gum remnants, which is something to be thankful for).
This one is a little over four minutes such that we seem to have two types of videos the half an hour ones and the short – barely five minutes – ones. There is probably a method to these given that they are designed for an app and probably have some utility within it. If any app subscribers are reading please write a comment and let me know how this works.
The Rheumatological examination of the knees
This is just less than four and a quarter minutes in length. There are similar notes, few comments worth mentioning, the same approach. It is again a gentle procedure which has the benefit of a quiet voice (louder narration allowing).
The Rheumatological examination of the Shoulders
Four and a quarter minutes and it is exactly the same as those that have gone before.
Indeed some aspects of the video seem to be repetitions of sections from previous videos. I suspect that there is a good deal of overlap between them. It is definitely worthwhile using the shuffle function on YouTube or the watching of this part of the playlist on the Procrastination Pen is going to be somewhat repetitive.
The Rheumatological examination of the Elbows
This is the shortest one so far at just over two and a quarter minutes. Unsurprisingly there are zero comments with this one. Notes, music, style remain as before.
The Rheumatological Examination of the Hips
Four and three quarter minutes, zero comments, startup music, but now you’re in the swing of this of course…
The Top Hat Tutorials playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.
I notice that there is now a lot more traffic in social media sites that utilise pictures or videos than there is in sites dedicated to reading. So, it is feasible that writing a blog (to whatever level of skill) is now something of a dying art (a bit like writing thank-you letters to your aunt because you received a fountain pen for your birthday).
It seems few people write letters now other than solicitors and banks. People using fountain pens do so because they like pens, rather than it’s a thing that you just use.
I assume people still have aunts; however, I imagine any messages of thanks are now received via Signal, WhatsApp or even (the now somewhat dated) SMS.
Perhaps AI will save us by writing all these blog articles for us, however I wonder then who will be left to read them.
So, it is with a sense of some stubbornness that I write (however badly) another article on ASMR for sleep.
Today’s video comes from that very deep mine of videos which we have thoroughly excavated of late which is the video apparently produced as some kind of course work. Sadly, these always seem to be pressured efforts produced in public areas and as such the sound quality is often not quite there.
A number of these seem a great idea at first (to me at least) but have subsequently hit the Procrastination Pen archive list because they do not measure up to the competition we are seeing through continual review of the videos available.
So, it is with a triumph of optimism over experience that we come to today’s:
Head to toe
The sound is flat as if being recorded from some distance away (which may be the reality). The pace is frenetic (is someone timing the participants for some reason?)
From the introductory comments I heard that the medical professional is Carmen, a student (some kind of student but it was too fast for me to catch what).
Similarly, the “patient” could be “Charlene” (but that may well not be correct).
The date it is filmed is 03/08/2021 and they are at LIU campus Brooklyn.
LIU of course has its own YouTube channel. (This must be de rigueur for universities). However, there appear to be only fifty-nine videos here. As we have seen before these tend to be promotional videos for the university, rather than material that an ASMR-related blog can really make much use of.
The video (as is common for such videos) is in portrait mode (presumably filmed on a phone). As we have come to expect, there are various noises associated with equipment. Here, the muted nature of the volume works in our favour.
There are no comments permitted (which as has been pointed out before is probably wise). However, it does mean that I have no awareness as to whether other people have discovered this video and are using it for ASMR purposes. ASMR fans are so good at sniffing out a good video that a tracker dog would do less well. I therefore suspect quite a few have been here before me.
Once the examination-proper starts, things begin to slow down. (Thank goodness, this is supposed to be relaxing).
At nearly forty-two and a half minutes this is quite a long video. One does get the idea with such videos that in order to pass an assessment the student has to rattle through a list of certain phrases as if mentally following a checklist.
This often leads to a quite stilted presentation. (Presumably it is effective for assessment purposes, however).
Charlene (if that is her name) seems as anxious as we have come to expect in such videos. Perhaps the pace has not been relaxing for her either.
There are a number of thumps and bangs from the equipment. As pointed out before medical equipment does not seem to come with the quiet option.
Definition:
JVD: Jugular Vein Distention, bulging of veins in the neck.
The channel is carmen yip which has one video and no playlists. Yet, despite this, it has two hundred and five subscribers, that is quite an achievement I think.
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
I was reflecting that, in the world of ASMR, it is something of a miracle that anyone takes the time to read anything.
Specifically, those people using ASMR to aid in sleep are unlikely to be the type of person who is taking a leisurely stroll around the estate with the dogs followed by a slow browse through the morning papers.
No, I suspect that they are the kind of person with a hectic day, coupled with a hectic evening and a brain that whirs away throughout that time. A brain which they are then desperate to find the “switch” for so that they can turn it off on demand and get some desperately-needed sleep.
It seems incumbent upon me to take as little of the available time of such a person. On that basis, I’ll ensure these articles stay brief and I’ll remind anybody happening upon this article that the playlist, this is dedicated to producing, can be accessed, (without reading this article in its entirety) by scrolling to the last paragraph where you will find the details.
It is simply to add that I recommend you pick up the Procrastination Pen playlist on YouTube where you can watch it using the shuffle-mode available there. This ensures the presentation is random so that you are not always watching the same material in a predictable sequence. I write the articles in the order of the channel I am investigating and the playlist is populated in the order that I write the article. This produces a playlist where videos of similar content are bunched together. That might prove a bit dull to watch if you simply watch the playlist in order.
Today’s video follows the medical examination theme we have been covering for a number of articles now.
Hand overview
It is just over sixteen minutes long so a reasonable length but unlike the majority of professional videos we have seen includes no associated notes.
Comments are permitted (bravely in my view). But at least the comments reveal to me that the ASMR community is all over this already and hence this will come as no surprise to any ASMR fans out there.
A bonus point for this video is that there is none I mean zero introductory music. I wish that many other videos were the same.
Curtis is a gift to ASMR afficionados, his voice is beautifully quiet and measured. I can imagine many presenters would give a great deal to have a voice like this.
The video quality is not great at all, it makes the straight-to-tape quality of the 1980s look great. But given no one will be watching, because they are trying to get some sleep, this should not be an obstruction.
The channel is EdwardTDavis and contains just fifteen videos. It is possible that it is the same Edward Davis who also works at the Royal Orthopaedic hospital.
Fifteen is not a huge number but perhaps a little many for our overworked relaxation seeker, so I will try to limit myself to videos in which Curtis Robb appears.
(I think we will be returning to this channel in the not-too-distant future).
There appear to be four of these including the one at the start of this article. The remaining three are as follows:
Hand run through
At just two and a half minutes this is brief even for us. (I’ve known YouTube adverts that are quite a bit longer than that).
Curtis remains on good form. Although there are no obvious ASMR-related comments there is no reason to suspect that ASMR fans are not also tuning into this one.
I notice that all the videos on this channel are dated eleven years ago as at today’s date, so I wonder what happened. This could have been a great ASMR resource, this channel (had the posting of videos continued, that is).
Foot and ankle run through
This is every bit as good as the last two and the comments that relate to them relate also to this.
The “patient” is Sarah – the same patient as in the other videos.
Foot and ankle overview
this one is a bit more substantial at eleven and a half minutes. Curtis Robb is still excellent in terms of his voice. Sarah appears again as a “patient”. The location this time seems to be a lecture theatre or conference hall rather than a hospital room.
The Edward Davis playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.
ASMR is now so mainstream that even the most restrained of media outlets is now featuring ASMR in their articles, but I was intrigued to come across an article in which it was being used to cure insomnia, after all isn’t that exactly what I have been trying to achieve with my little old blog here.
It is supportive to come across people struggling in the same way and coming up with vastly similar conclusions, it is feasible that I am on the correct track.
The Procrastination Pen playlist is now a great large collection with enough videos to guide you through the longest night. I even found the other night I was listening to a video that I had forgotten I had even covered in this blog.
Today’s video is a short one:
How to palpate the carpal bones in the wrist
Just over four and a half minutes. But it does not stop it being a good one for our purposes. It has a brief piece of music at the start which is a bit loud to be honest. After which the presentation is nicely measured. Not what you would call quiet though.
Fortunately, there is no background noise and the format is landscape (not that generally we will be watching so much as listening to it, of course).
As a professional video it comes with a healthy set of notes:
“17 Mar 2015
Occupational Therapist reviews how to find the carpal in the wrist. YES we know she said palpitate and meant palpate … its ALL GOOD! Learn more here: https://www.liveconferences.com/packa…”
Clicking the URL produces no result, no surprise with a video posted that long ago.
Although comments are permitted, this one seems to have escaped the trolls and there is no obvious posting from an ASMR fan either. I can’t believe I am the first, although it would be delightful to find a new video for the ASMR community (those that read this blog in any case).
There are three hundred and fifty two videos in here as at today’s date, that’s rather a few to review in any one sitting.
There are zero playlists, none at all. Using the playlist as a mechanism of thinning down videos for review is therefore not going to help us here.
There also do not seem to be any videos present in the same series.
Taking a sample of the videos I found that a number of them are loud, contain distracting music, or are just not a good fit for the Procrastination Pen playlist.
There are very few remaining, including this:
Using Neurodynamics in Rehab
The notes are:
“17 Mar 2015
Physical Therapist discusses neurodynamics and treating upper limb pathology”
It is reasonably quiet, no startup music, no significant background noise. Not exactly the quietest presentation we’ve ever seen however.
Most of the remaining videos have an unpleasant (loud) startup sequence – I’m not going to start with those. Some have a very loud presentation style which is completely unsuitable for our purposes.
It looks like we have mined the resources this channel has to offer and come up with two-brief videos.
At least you only had to be a here a few short minutes, then you can get back to what you were doing. More ASMR material next time on the Procrastination Pen.
The Treatment2Go playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
Exploring YouTube, as I do now several times a week, leads to many random dead ends. Let’s face it, when faced with a screen full of prospective videos, I am looking at a thumbnail of each video and making a guess as to what the video will sound like for any ASMR fans out there that are reading this blog. Which of the many videos might be relaxing for a person, like myself, seeking more sleep than they currently achieve.
I am not that successful. For every video you have seen, there are many dozens with off-putting noises, strange sequences or that my suspicious senses kick off – thinking that, in fact, they were generated by a professional ASMR artist.
Of those I have evaluated, a subset get into the Procrastination Pen playlist. Sadly after a period of listening, quite a few of those subsequently get archived because they just don’t turn out to be that appealing in the long run.
It is therefore no surprise that once a good video is located by ASMR fans on YouTube a loyal following develops. In some cases, once videos are taken down, ASMR fans recover the video and repost it on their own channel.
(Much as I applaud this from the viewpoint of video availability, it is fraught with risk – out there are some hungry copyright solicitors and they, I am certain, would love to spot infringements of copyright and gain any fees due as a consequence).
Today’s video does not permit comments. From the perspective of defraying the Internet trolls this is jolly good news. However, it does not assist me in determining if ASMR afficionados have found this one already. In most cases, I assume they have. ASMR fans are substantially faster than I am at discovering new content.
The video is this one:
Neuro exam 2
It is just shy of ten minutes, so not terrible in length in terms of a medical examination video. There are no notes, so I suspect an amateur, rather than a professionally, produced video. It starts a bit loud, and straight away we get the impression this is another of those videos produced on a course required as part of a student’s assessment.
That said, background noise is negligible, the volume is not terrible (other than the occasional clang of equipment which is normal in terms of such videos.
Sadly, it is in portrait mode. I assume because it is filmed on a mobile phone but this will not be a problem because you’ll be listening rather than watching.
My viewing was constantly interposed by adverts at an inappropriate level of volume (which seems to be YouTube’s latest thing). I have no hatred of the adverts as such, but if I’m watching a video for ASMR content, an advert some levels of volume louder than the video seems a very bad idea.
But I digress. The pace of the video is slow and the level of speaking is (mostly) quiet. The scene is in a medical room but there are no clues as to where. At intervals there are other people talking in the background which is quite common in this type of video as well.
As we have seen before participants find it hard to take the process seriously and this is also the case here with laughter on occasion (on other occasions obvious boredom).
Someone interrupts the video at one stage (also a hazard in these videos) by knocking on the door. The BBC doesn’t seem to be challenged in this way…
I’ll assume that Anna was the medical professional and given it was posted earlier this year, may well still be on the course that it is a requirement for.
The channel has fourteen videos and no playlists. That is a fair few for one blog item and it looks like the current participant is the favourite “patient” as she appears in the majority of them. So I can’t go for my much used method of only reviewing videos with the same medical professional or same “patient”.
So I’ll go through all of the videos in the channel (as at today’s date anyway). If you haven’t the time for such a lengthy post, scroll to the end and the playlist will be waiting there for you. Hop over to YouTube – click the shuffle function – lie back and drift off to sleep (well in theory at least). Please let me have any feedback (such as favourite videos you’d like including).
The next video is this one:
Peripheral vascular exam 2
I think the patient introduces herself as “Emma Hilt” but it could probably be anything as it passes in a real rush. April 16th 2002 is her DoB, not that it is relevant in checking if this is a genuine medical video.
This video is short at just under three and a half minutes. Again, there is a comforting lack of background noise. No notes, Emma (I’ll assume that is her name) yawns frequently throughout so it obviously isn’t the most compelling thing she has on that day.
There are more equipment noises – I guess quiet equipment just isn’t a priority. Either that or medical professionals are more interested in moving equipment around quickly rather than doing so quietly, which seems a sensible choice.
The next video is this one:
Bedside assessment
This is just over six and a half minutes
I think that Emma tells us that she is at nursing school (although I have no idea which one). She seems either very bored or she’s getting even less sleep than I habitually do. There are conversation noises from adjacent rooms (although it isn’t excessively loud).
There are more equipment noises but mostly a very measured examination.
Nose mouth throat exam
These videos are remarkably consistent given they are produced as part of a student assessment. This, has more laughter and, to me, a more obvious set of air conditioning noises. But at least it lacks the conversation from adjacent rooms. Emma still seems utterly bored. Perhaps she has in mind her own set of videos, yet to be filmed, for the same course.
Hearing exam
The same two participants in what is quite a short video at just over three and a half minutes. No notes and no comments. Background noise, now seems to be a companion – which is something that we are used to of course.
Eye exam
This is almost identical with the previous ones apart from noises relating to what I assume are messages arriving on a mobile phone (perhaps the one being used to do the filming). It is just over four and a half minutes in length. There are air conditioning noises, general amusement in places and utter boredom for the “patient”. It is feasible that these were all filmed at one time and that the process was just a tad wearing.
At one stage Anna forgets her medical terminology and one gets the feeling it’s all getting a bit tiresome for them.
Skin, hair, nails exam
Anna forgets which video she is supposed to be filming. Emma announces she has “KP” which I had to look up.
KP: Keratosis Pilaris painless bumps on the skins – a long term condition.
Anna again forgets where she is going and then gets very loud, perhaps to block out the conversation from an adjacent room. There is a thudding sound at one stage almost as if someone were tapping the phone that is doing the filming.
Abdominal exam
The same participants this video is just under four and three quarter minutes. Background conversation noises are there from the outset and air conditioning is really getting into its stride. Anna sounds fed up with the process already.
Emma states that she has IBS.
IBS Irritable Bowel Syndrome a lifelong condition affecting the gut which can be controlled but not cured.
Anna is again amused at intervals.
The phone is relocated part way through with associated clanging noises. Presumably equipment was kicked at the same time. Anna forgets what she is supposed to say but the approach to the examination is quiet.
It’s quite unusual to see one of these videos in which the person participating seems quite stuck. However, I don’t think this impacts the ASMR-i-ness as such.
There seems to be equipment missing (perhaps a hammer) which is reminiscent of the student who used canteen equipment to film one of these videos. Anna just uses her finger.
Peripheral vascular exam
The same participants feature again, the video is five minutes ten seconds long. If all of these videos were filmed in one session, I assume it took the two of them a very long time. Anna has problems getting through the door initially so there is a loud bang at the start. There is background conversation from an adjacent room and at stages it continues quite loudly. Air conditioning has now fully established itself and is working on becoming a session musician.
Anna forgets what she intends to say (but at least we are fully aware that she is not following notes off screen).
More message noises are heard from the phone being used to film this. There are more equipment noises and Anna is again amused by the parts that are going wrong (mainly where she forgets terminology).
Cardiac assessment
We’re in the swing of this now and all the same symptoms are in this one that were in all the previous ones. The level of background noise merely differs.
Just over five and a quarter minutes so not long. It follows the exact same theme as those we have seen previously. The start is quite stumbly as if Anna is finding her way through it. It remains quiet though apart from overheard nearby conversations and the low roar of air conditioning, which is constant.
I think Anna’s voice is actually improving as we go on and if some of those niggling additional noises were dispatched this could have been a really great video. In any case I’m intending to trial these in the Procrastination Pen playlist with the understanding that some or all may ultimately get dispatched to the archive.
Lungs and thorax assessment
This is approaching six minutes which feels long in comparison to some of the others but for the videos we commonly see is still a short video.
We’re used to the intro now as it runs through exactly the same set of sentences each time. The examination itself though differs (fortunately for us).
Anna appears to be struggling to remember some specific terminology (unclear what). There are noises of doors opening in adjacent rooms so it is feasible that other students are filming vastly similar videos for their courses in the rooms next door to this one.
Overall, though, a good video for the Procrastination Pen playlist I think.
Head, Face, Neck Assessment
Here, Emma is wearing some kind of identity badge which one would hope would give us the institution involved. Sadly, it is too tiny for me to read so it remains a mystery. Just under four and a half minutes, so a short one in terms of this set and the last one in which Anna and Emma appear together.
It seems to start a bit louder than previously and the air conditioning is ever present (or I’m getting tired by now).
However, to have produced this number of videos in such a short period is quite a piece of work.
Anna now has a new “patient”. Michael Atkis (I think) DoB. 02-12-03 (December in case there are any US readers). This, as expected, changes the sound profile markedly as Michael has a much deeper voice than Emma.
However, he does not get to talk a great deal.
The background air conditioning now sounds like it is aiming for some kind of award and the extraneous background talking noises are now quite pronounced.
Michael tells us that we are at “college of nursing” I think – it’s hard to discern. But I cannot make out where that would be.
This is over seven minutes in length. Again, Anna is a bit tentative, apparently as she forgets some terminology.
Having seen this examination done professionally by Vicki Scott we have been a bit spoiled; I think. This one is a bit more filled with humour – especially as Anna forgets the content she needs to perform.
Musculoskeletal home assessment video
the last one in this set and this has been a rather long post for which I apologise. Anna returns with Michael. Almost identical to the previous one in terms of sound – maybe more noise from the next-door room than previously.
Just under seven minutes so only slightly different in length to the previous one. Anna laughs quite a bit in this one too.
Very loud equipment noises in this, I jumped at one stage because I was listening rather than watching the screen.
The Anna Cason playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.
Eye exams seemed a rich resource after the item from Moran Core. In the drive to find more ASMR videos I have tried a number of avenues. Mostly I find that ASMR devotees are there way ahead of me, sometimes by decades.
And so here, with the first comment referring to the video being “relaxing” made seven years ago. As the saying goes: the best time to watch an ASMR video was ten years ago, the next best time is today.
It’s a professionally produced video and therefore there are notes: “28 Aug 2009
An explanation of what goes into an eye exam. How is it done? What is the Doctor looking for? And what you need to be aware of. For more information, please visit Simon Eye Associates http://www.simoneye.com”
At just less than ten minutes this is a staple length for us and features Dr Brian Gardener (probably misspelled) as the medical professional here.
There are several links to the organisation https://www.simoneye.com/ so that we’re in no doubt what we are talking about. Brian has a great voice. There is limited to no background noise and the approach is methodical. So far, so fantastic.
The video quality is fuzzy to hazy, not a problem if we are just listening in order to get some sleep.
The “patient” is Sean (possibly misspelled) I think women with a similar name often have this spelled as Sian so there is a strong chance it is wrong. The comments refer to Sean (I’m standardising on that spelling) featuring in other videos, if we can spot them that maybe a theme for another article.
I would say that Brian has a better voice than Sean, but neither is a terrible voice for our purposes.
The channel is Simon EyeAssociates and it only has a total of eight videos. Despite the comment, Sean only appears in one of them (on this channel in any case). However, eight videos is not a terrible number to review in a blog post, particularly as it would appear that some of them are not what we are looking for.
In no particular order, the videos are as follows:
Children’s Eye Exam (www.SimonEye.com)
The medical professional is not identified. The “patient” sounds like it might be “Elon” so I’ll stick with that. It is a little loud, but a charming presentation nonetheless. As before it has notes: “18 Mar 2014
In this video we show you exactly what’s involved in a children’s eye exam.
This one has comments but not any that refer to it being used for ASMR purposes. However, I think we may have a candidate video.
It is only slightly less than five and three-quarter minutes and on balance I think this can go in the Procrastination Pen playlist. It might fall prey to a subsequent weeding but we will see.
How to Choose the Perfect Pair of Glasses for Your Face Shape
I notice that these videos fall into two distinct age groups, those posted nine years ago and those posted thirteen years ago, of which this is one of the more recent ones.
This is two and three-quarter minutes and the presentation is fine but sadly it is dotted with distracting background noises.
This one also has notes “18 Mar 2014
In this video we show you the various glasses that look good on different faces. Judy will take you through and show you exactly what you need to know in order to choose the perfect pair of glasses.
There are some comments about the client “Lauren” but nothing about it being an ASMR video. There is another client, Patti. There are no comments at all about Patti. The next client could be LaSandra (almost certainly misspelled). There are no comments about LaSandra either.
In any case the background noises ensure it does not belong in the Procrastination Pen playlist.
How to Insert and Remove Contact Lenses (www.SimonEye.com)
The medical professional self-identifies as Carey (almost certainly misspelled), a contact lens tech.
As before there are notes: “18 Mar 2014
In this video we show you how to correctly insert and take out your contact lenses.
It’s just shy of four minutes so not a huge length video, but sadly in the background random noises as before. It is as if it was filmed in a backroom of an active shop or similar. Carey has a good voice, but the background noises mean that this one will not get into the Procrastination Pen playlist.
Delaware Optometrist | Simon Eye Associates (www.SimonEye.com)
Oh no! The fear of any ASMR video watcher, funky background music. Urrgh. It could be an advertising video. I’ll skip right over this one then.
Dry Eye Syndrome – Delaware Eye Doctor (www.SimonEye.com)
This is just shy of ten minutes so a more substantial video again. Featuring Dr Tessa Payne (probably misspelled). Dr Payne (or other common variants of that spelling) does not seem to be on the current doctors list so apologies Dr Payne if I got that wrong.
Dr Payne has a great voice but yet again the video is polluted with conversations going on in the background. In places this rises above merely a hubbub and disqualifies this one from becoming a favourite one for the Procrastination Pen playlist.
This starts with music again – usually a warning sign. It is a narrated video and the narrator has a good voice. However, this stacks up as another advertising video (which is of some length for such a video at over seven minutes). The music fails to abate despite continued watching. I do not think this one is for us.
More music, and at just over half a minute not much time to get away from that music. There is background noise and it stacks up as an advertising video (again). So, another one I will not be including.
Eye Exam Wilmington Delaware (www.SimonEye.com)
Of course, this is where we came in
So just a couple this time, the SimonEye playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.
The Procrastination Pen 
