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.
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.
ASMR fans are like Miss Marples. I happen across a video and it seems to me it must be one of the hidden gems that no one could possibly have come across before. I read the comments and I find that a number of people have come across it before I have. I then discover that they comment how relaxing the whole thing is. So it is with today’s video.
The problem with coming at videos from random searches or YouTube recommendations is that you do not get to see them in the order that their creator intended. This one for example is obviously one of a series (and not the first one):
Examination of the Hand – Part 3
The notes are somewhat brief “19 Mar 2018 The Medical Assessment of Impairment”.
It starts with funky music sadly, but RogerPillemer has a very quiet and relaxing voice, so it is worth enduring that music. The patient is “Chris” (probably misspelled) who has literally nothing to say.
The examination is methodical and gentle, just the sort of thing we are always looking for. There is zero background noise. This is a great little video for the Procrastination Pen playlist.
This channel has twenty-four videos, which is rather too many for us to read about in one lump. There are only two playlists, one of which is seventeen videos in length.
I think the approach here is to select only those videos that are connected with the hand. Including the first one, we have four such videos. But I have no doubt that with a voice this good we will return to Roger in the future.
Taking the Examination of the Hand series in the order which it is supposed to appear, this one would appear to be video one of the series:
Examination of the Hand
At over thirty minutes it is a chunky one. Same funky music to start. There are no notes this time. There are however, yet more ASMR comments. By far the bulk of the video is given over to Roger speaking, but the latter part does include a medical examination. However, it is a quite fascinating presentation.
In the early part of the video the funky music continues to play along behind Roger’s voice. That is just not fantastic in relaxing, get-back-off-to-sleep terms. The impact of this can most deeply felt in the brief periods where the music is not playing, which is just so much better. Sadly, I think this disincludes this video from the Procrastination Pen playlist.
Examination of the Hand – Part 1
I can’t be certain but this simply seems to be a section taken from the half hour version reviewed previously. There is no medical examination in this video and sadly Roger’s voice is backed by constant funky music which makes it less than fully relaxing. This is not great when you’ve woken from a particularly vivid nightmare that you need some soothing background noise to wind down from.
I notice that one of the commentators contributes if the video only included Roger’s voice it would be much enhanced and I have to say I wholeheartedly agree.
I think like the previous one this does not belong in the Procrastination Pen playlist.
Examination of the Hand – Part 2
This seems to be taken from the main “Examination of the Hand” video rather than being an entirely separate recording. Again, it has the background music. It has several fans in the comments, whether ASMR fans or medical students is not clear. However, given it has the same limitations as the previous video I do not think this one is going to be in the Procrastination Pen playlist either.
Examination of the Hand – Part 3
This is where we came in and by happy chance I happened upon the best video in the set. It is sad because Roger has a great voice but the way these have been recorded means that this is the only one lacking a backing track of funky music.
This is also the last video of the set and as it turns out the only one to go into The Procrastination Pen playlist.
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 article, why not follow this blog.
Some people have echoed the concern that the material to write a blog dedicated to ASMR is soon enough going to dry up and I shall come to an abrupt halt. Recently, however I have signed up to an ASMR group on Facebook. This group receives ASMR posts daily and a great many of them. It seems likely that there will always be ASMR material. It also seems that the popularity of ASMR isn’t going to wane in the short term. ASMR seems to have now been established as an interest for a sufficient time that I think it unlikely that this is a fashion or a fad.
What will perhaps be more challenging is the area I have chosen to explore, which is of ASMR-inducing videos where that was not the initial intent of the video. I find this a great deal more interesting, like uncovering a diamond in a coal mine.
It does mean quite a bit of work in sifting through the very many unsuitable videos. However, the mental reward when the like of Hollie Berry or Shane Brun are discovered does to some extent compensate for that. Although, unsurprisingly, there are many more videos which are not of that calibre.
Every once in a while, I will take a side route to illustrate videos that are not quite on theme but might be of interest. If, one day, I cease to discover new inadvertent ASMR there is always the world of professional ASMR to take a look at. It might even be that readers of this blog will encourage that direction, perhaps to advertise their own ASMR material, for example.
For now, I have another video to look at.
Head to Toe Assessment: Greta Garber
This is quite brief in terms of the videos we have looked at of late, at just over six and a quarter minutes.
The notes are informative: “18 Nov 2020
Head to Toe Assessment done by Greta Garber on November 18th for NSG 261 Skills Test #2”
NSG261 appears to be one in a series of exams with NSG262 and NSG263 material also being readily available in terms of study guides, quizzes, advice and so on. So it does not appear to uniquely identify a specific institution. Where colleges offer NSG courses these seem to be in relation to a nursing qualification, so it might be that NSG is just an odd abbreviation for nursing.
Greta Garber is the medical professional in this video, the “patient” is Audrey Stephens (almost certainly misspelled). Given this is filmed in 2020 it might have been when Greta was at Miami University.
Miami, of course has its own channel with around hundred and ninety-seven videos at the time I am looking at it. However, we have experience of university channels now and mostly they are about promoting the university (unsurprisingly) and experience tells us it is a poor source for ASMR material.
The address is given which sounds like “233 Gaslin”, but which almost certainly is nothing like that. Many of the commentators have mentioned that whoever is handling the camera probably had a bad cold that day, or at the least is used to breathing through their mouth. At times it sounds like someone trying to make a certain kind of telephone call.
The poster for Phi Mu turns out to be a “fraternity” at Miami. I’m not at all informed about what a fraternity would do or why they exist. This one seems to exist as a way to meet like-minded women, which amongst other things, seems to be involved in some charitable events. Perhaps that is why all fraternities exist. Interestingly, the word seems to originate with the term brotherhood, which makes its re-use as a term to define a group of women interesting. American websites seem to more typically use the term “Sorority” to define a group like this. I’m not sure of the ramifications (which could potentially be political).
Although it starts a bit energetically – it seems like it was quite hard to take it all seriously – the video settles down and becomes quite gentle (in places anyway).
The channel is Greta Garber there are four videos of which this one is by far the most recent. The others do not look very promising as ASMR candidates.
cheer winter
Given the music and photographic content I would say it is a nostalgic celebration of success designated for participants only. Definitely of no use for an ASMR video.
meniscus
well, the title is medical so it promises to be more interesting. The music at the start is a lot less so. It is slightly over two and a half minutes so really not very long. The video includes the channel owner and someone called Kayla, who on the face of it has a much better voice.
It was obviously filmed in the equivalent of a canteen with the background noise that we have come to expect from such locations. It then appears to move to a more medical room with a similar level of noise. There is the air conditioning unit running which could have doubled as a cooling plant at Chernobyl. It could have been a very good video in principle but I think it is more likely to keep you awake than lull you off to sleep.
VOTE GRETA GARBER FOR SECRETARY
Loud, so loud. Really not at all what we want to hear.
So that’s it. Not a huge one this time I’m afraid, but I’m sure that we will have next time another for your delectation.
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.
In a previous blog post I pointed out that there was a whole page of videos on the Internet that had no affiliation (that I could determine) to YouTube, and that therefore I was unable to embed in a WordPress page for viewing.
In addition, I felt that the videos could be better shown to you if I took them and uploaded them to YouTube on my channel. However, I am not a copyright expert, and in my amateur way rather thought some very well-paid people in threatening clothing might send me a formally-written letter if I tried it.
So I looked out for a contact email and found that the owner Dr Michael Koller had died. This is not only very sad but very regrettable in that I could not ask him if I could upload these videos to my channel on YouTube. I have approached Stritch via email, but each time I look at the website there seems to be another email to try and so to date I have not received permission (or a flat refusal) to use them.
The upshot is that the blog posts on this page tend to be a little dry as they are not dotted with friendly-looking embedded videos. However, given I habitually recommend that you go to YouTube to play the videos in my usual posts, and in this case, you simply have to go to the page to play the videos, there isn’t a great deal of difference.
I would feel that I wasn’t doing my part in telling you about the material that is out there if I simply limited myself to YouTube.
However, I don’t want to dwell too long on material that cannot be actively linked to (other than via URL) so although it will make this blog post a long one, I intend to cover off the remaining videos on that page in this blog post.
As part of this process, we satisfied ourselves that where there were complete and part videos under the same title. That the part videos were simply parts of that complete one. That is, you could get the material from all the part videos simply by watching the complete one. This will save time here; I can link the part videos for interest but cover only the complete videos. In addition, the included text files seem to only be of academic interest to those on the course for whom it was intended, so we have no need to review those.
15 Minute Screening Neuro Exam; Dr Michael Merchut
This starts quietly and thankfully devoid of startup music. The video is just over twelve minutes in length. Dr Merchut turns out to have a great ASMR voice, and had this been available on YouTube it would have been in the Procrastination Pen playlist. This is a loss to the list and to the ASMR community.
I’ll ignore the part videos as they have nothing extra to contribute. The complete video starts with startup music, which fortunately is neither too long nor too loud. Dr Merchut returns and gives a reasonably lengthy introductory speech. The entire video is a little over forty seven and a half minutes.
His voice is not quite so excellent in this one, but this is in comparison with the last one which was actually rather good.
Nancy again the “patient”. She featured in our previous blog post.
Again, I think if this video had been on YouTube, then it would have already been in the Procrastination Pen playlist.
Again, I’ll focus on the complete video only. In this case it features Dr Koller. We know that we are on safe ground with Dr Koller, in fact we have already added one of his videos to the Procrastination Pen playlist from YouTube.
This also begins with startup music but this time it is really going for it. The video quality is also on the abysmal side of poor. The sound has the normal background we would expect by now (air conditioning again).
The video is a little less than twenty-three and a half minutes. The initial presentation style is a little halting and, although this is the point of the video, it proves to be distracting.
Dr Koller is doing the narration which is great but somewhat intermittent (more narration by Dr Koller would be welcome as he has a good voice).
The music then kicks in again at breaks in the video. The sound has a metallic edge to it.
Although Dr Koller is as good as we are used to, the way the video is structured makes it more stimulating than anyone really needs when they are trying to get to sleep. Even if it were possible, I do not think that this one would be finding its way into the Procrastination Pen playlist.
This time just one video available, again with Dr Koller. This is just less than twenty-five and a quarter minutes and thank goodness there is no startup music. There is an ever-present air conditioning background drone though.
Dr Koller still has a good voice for our purposes. In this case though, I’m not certain the subject matter is that fascinating to anyone who isn’t in the medical profession. However fascinating is not that useful in getting off to sleep so this video might be a great fit.
Part way through we have loud clunks due to equipment noises (metal drawers being pushed in and out), just the kind of noise to stir someone from sleep as they were dozing off.
A great deal of thought has gone into the positioning of gowns and drapes in this video and apart from equipment noises, it is a good video for us. It’s a shame about the equipment as otherwise it would have been a great Procrastination Pen playlist candidate (well had it been on YouTube in any case).
Full Body Skin Exam; Estelle Kahn MS4 and Dr Anthony Peterson
In this case there is no “complete” video, so no choice other than to review each in turn.
Unfortunately, there is start up music and it is really dynamic stuff too. Estelle initially does not have a true ASMR voice, sometimes this happens when the person is presenting rather than examining someone however.
This introduction is a little over four minutes in length. If you are watching it is slightly distracting that Estelle seems to be reading a script which is slightly off camera.
I’m pretty sure that even had I the opportunity, this one would not be in the Procrastination Pen playlist.
It starts with door opening noises which are a little distracting. We see this in student assessment videos of course, soft-close not being a thing in medical establishments.
Dr Peterson has an excellent voice. He might be worth checking for elsewhere in case there is other material available. As expected, Estelle’s voice is much more muted during the examination. The examination is gentle and methodical and the whole video lasts only a little under nine and a quarter minutes. There are occasional equipment noises, equipment not having been designed to slide quietly in use apparently. All-in-all it is quite a good video. If it had been on YouTube this would be a strong Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.
Dr Peterson presenting and this is great as he has by far the better voice for us. There is no startup music – yay. There are occasional loud moments; watch the volume. Dr Peterson appears to be consulting notes at intervals, although if you’re just listening you will not notice that. The whole video is somewhat under three and a half minutes. This would’ve been a good Procrastination Pen playlist candidate (had it been on YouTube).
Reviewing the complete video again, the entire video is thirty-seven and a quarter minutes. It starts with some positively starship enterprise style music; very grand; very distracting. Straight away we seem to be in the soundscape of a public area, there is some kind of hubbub in play. Dr De Stefani is narrating this one. He does not have as good a voice as Dr Peterson sadly. There are telephone noises which Dr De Stefani has to talk over.
When the examination of the baby commences it quietens down a great deal. Of course with examination of a baby, the baby starts to complain about it. Not substantially so though. In fact, this was a good baby to choose as she appears to be so chilled under examination. After a while she does lose patience and lets us have it crying wise.
Background medical establishment noises continue; a repeating electronic beep sound at one stage, sounds of other babies at some distance who are a bit less chilled, muted conversations from adjacent rooms, distant equipment noises, an occasional telephone and of course the continuous accompaniment of air conditioning noises.
Although this is in part a great video, I think these distracting noises would discount it from the Procrastination Pen playlist.
Definition:
Foetal Alcohol Syndrome: effects that occur as a result of a mother drinking (alcohol) while pregnant.
Just the one video to look at a little over twelve minutes and it starts with startup music and there is a constant background hiss happening as if the entire thing was recorded on an LP and then poorly stored.
For some reason after a minute that hiss disappears entirely. Dr Sterling does not have a natural ASMR voice but by no means the worst that we have heard.
The delivery is measured and even and accompanied only by the hmm of air conditioning.
It’s sad about the start as otherwise this could have been a good video for us.
Looking at the complete video then, it is just under twenty five and three quarter minutes. Dr Lento has an impressive voice, impressive in its volume I mean. After the start-up music it is quite surprising to find the voice of the presenter louder than the music.
The “patient” is Sal – or that is what it sounds like. The volume also exposes the metallic sound to the audio track which we encountered with a previous video in this blog article.
This video really isn’t a suitable one for our purposes.
Only one video to review, eleven and three quarter minutes and again with the startup music. The videos are now starting to fall into a theme. Dr Bill Hopkinson who immediately has a better voice for us. He is quieter, more measured in expressing himself but he does attempt to compensate for that with the loudest washing of his hands I have encountered thus far.
We encounter Sal again as the “patient” – they obviously had him around and so were going to make good use of him. This one seems to have less background noise, certainly less hiss than encountered in previously videos in this article.
The actual video quality is no better though, not that I suspect you would be watching in any case.
PCM2 Musculoskeletal Provocative Exam; Dr Neeru Jayanthi
In this case there is no “complete” video so there is no choice other than to review each video in turn.
Less than three quarters of a minute so do not blink. Dr Neeru Jayanthi who on the basis of this amazingly brief video has a good voice for our purposes. Eric is the “patient” here. There was still time to sneak in introductory music (boo), although the background noise for some reason is a great deal more muted in this one, probably not enough here for me to consider it for the procrastination pen playlist.
Just a bit more than three and a quarter minutes – none of these are winning any length contests. This would be a good candidate for the Procrastination Pen playlist if it ever appeared on YouTube (hint Stritch hint).
Just less than one- and three-quarter minutes probably not long enough for any playlist, in fact the way these are going it would be better to combine them into one long playlist – which I sense is probably how it was filmed in the first place and then they were divided up for (presumably) educational purposes.
Just over one- and three-quarter minutes, again no extraneous noises and a good presentation. A good combination of these videos would make one good one for the Procrastination Pen playlist – assuming anyone uploaded it to YouTube.
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 