Whispering – Page 3 – The Procrastination Pen

Sleeping With ASMR

I am noticing on YouTube, a number of channels dedicated to the collecting of inadvertent ASMR videos and, sometimes the creation of playlists of such videos, which in many ways replicates the work that I am doing.

There are also blogs out there producing some quality work in this area, so it is feasible that any ASMR-related output has been accomplished even more professionally elsewhere. If you do have a favourite outlet for ASMR material pass it along and I will feature it. I may even listen to it personally.

For the moment I am carrying on doing what I have done for over a year now, reviewing videos, generating playlists, occasionally editing the playlists when I don’t feel that they are fit for purpose. If you happen across this blog in your search for better ASMR material, by all means, give me some feedback and I’ll try to incorporate any relevant suggestions.

Of late, I have been listening to Calm because I have a subscription and, for me, that subscription gives some value, in that without it, I doubt I would be maintaining any kind of meditation discipline. Its value as a sleep aid I have found a bit variable. Indeed, I have found that the Calm daily meditations are more restful in many cases than the items dedicated to sleep. Not least that a number of the items dedicated to sleep incorporate music, which, personally, I do not find helpful in assisting me to get off to sleep. Your mileage may vary.

Today’s Calm item is just the same and, again, it is one of my favourite voices on there, Jeff Warren. Who, coincidentally, once in a while has something useful to say as well. Don’t take this as a recommendation to start splashing your cash. Heaven forfend. I am certain that with a bit of discipline there are other, free, options available.

https://www.calm.com/app/player/Yj26VDZzW_ Jeff Warren, Daily Trip, Sometimes It’s Hard.

However, if, for example, you already have a Calm subscription you may want to give the above a whirl.

For a few weeks now I have been giving a professional ASMR video a review. Today’s comes via a slightly esoteric route, in that I have been trying to learn Italian via Duolingo, without success, for way – way too long. It was for this reason that a video in Italian, by a non-Italian ASMR artist rather appealed.

The video is this one:

ITALY’S Old School Eye Exam is SO Relaxing | Real ASMR sounds

It is from LaLek ASMR a channel with three hundred and ten videos, 242K subscribers and whose output seems to incorporate an impressive number of massage videos. As expected, the channel also appears on the ASMR Index.

The video has notes, some of which are dedicated to self-promotion, so a precis of which are as follows:

“2,152,940 views 14 Feb 2025 #EyeExam #MedicalASMR #ASMR

Ciao a tutti! 🌿✨ Today, I’m taking you inside an old-school eye clinic in Italy for a real eye exam with a gentle, professional old-school eye doctor and vintage optometry tools. This classic vision test includes trial frames, Snellen Eye Test Chart, near and far vision testing, and vintage optometry equipments—all creating unintentional ASMR with soft-spoken moments, gentle tapping, and soothing sounds. 💆‍♂️👓

If you love medical ASMR, real eye exams, and the nostalgic charm of old-fashioned clinics, this video is for you!”

Comments are permitted and surprisingly, are positive and seem to lack the off-the-wall and damning. Perhaps such commentators take a little while to catch up.

The video is a little less than thirty minutes and it is surprising how effective hearing an ASMR video in another language actually is. However, there are quite loud equipment noises. It is also punctuated by ads sadly. There are various electric motor noises, beeps and clicks. None of these seem excessively loud. The summation by the eye specialist is a little louder and somewhat faster than the rest. It isn’t terrible but does not stand up well in comparison with the nicely quiet presentation that has gone just before.

Today we return to a channel that I did promise I would revisit after a moderately successful first review of it.

The channel is Farsight Channel and will be familiar to regular readers.

The video is this one:

Macleod’s examination of the sensory system of the upper limbs

A little less than five- and three-quarter minutes long. Omar and Amy as in the previous article, and by this time I am getting used to that artificial voice (maybe that is just me). A video of that voice would not be unpleasant for us I feel, even though there seems a slight discontinuity between the sound and the video.

Macleod’s examination of the cervical spine

Ben and Omar again. Omar’s responses are so abrupt and flat that it is laughable, definitely not Omar’s genuine voice (in fact, I doubt that Omar is even the “patient’s” name).

It is just over two minutes long and, in every respect, follows the findings indicated for the previous videos in this post.

Macleod’s examination of the ear

Omar with Amy, and I have decided that I like the artificial voice of Amy a lot more than the artificial voice of Ben. Shucks, am I admitting to liking a synthesized voice? Well not really, just that I think it is better than another computer-generated voice.

This one is less than one minute so there is barely time to take in what the participants are saying before it is all over. Again, the narrator is not as quiet as the participants.

Macleod’s examination of the upper limbs motor function

Ben and Omar, but this time a narrator who is different to the one we have had previously, not only that, but he has a markedly superior voice. Much preferred intonation and volume for our purposes.

Omar responds “no” in a completely flat tone which, if you have listened to the ones that went before in this post, you will be completely familiar with.

This is just less than six minutes, so a positive marathon in terms of some in this post but miniscule compared to some we have seen.

Macleod’s examination of lower limb motor function

This is just over five minutes long. Ben and Omar, same narrator as above and this narrator would have been great for all of the videos. Perhaps I will be entering into some judicious weeding of videos from the main Procrastination playlist into the archive list and including only those with this narrator. I’ll let them bed in and see if they are all deserving of long-term membership.

Macleod’s examination of the Hip joint

Just over six and a half minutes, Ben and Omar the participants again. These have all been very similar, which is remarkable in that there has been little to dislike about any of them. I sometimes resort to pointing out minor niggles to distinguish between them (like the narrator’s voice for example). Here we have the preferred narrator of the two featured in this blog post. Already then, we are on a good footing (given the narrator is talking for much of the video).

Definition, just because I thought a picture would be useful – lumbar spine

Macleod’s examination of the respiratory system

Amy with Omar and this time with my preferred narrator. So preferred participants (for this set anyway) and preferred narrator, so something of a jackpot. It is nearly thirteen minutes and so reasonably long for the posts we have been covering this time.

Definition Cricosternal distance distance between the cricoid cartilage and the suprasternal notch (labelled as Jugular notch below)

Macleod’s Examination of the cardiovascular system

Just over twelve- and three-quarter minutes, Amy with Omar, and the last of the videos in this particular post. The preferred narrator in fact a good video to go out on.

Definition Cyanotic Congenital Heart Disease, a disease present at birth leading to low levels of oxygen in the blood.

The Farsight 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.

Until next time.

Picture DeepAI.org

Sleeping With ASMR

It is easy to go away with the idea that everything is ticking along hunky dory because there is no news or feedback. I hope that my regular readers out there are still doing well and, by all means, let me know if you would like a particular item of content.

Recently I am finding that my clock is swinging about all over the place, with some days feeling like I could sleep for the gods at 15:00 but as awake as a lark at 22:00. In such times I find it best to just relax with what is. The normal clock will eventually reassert itself I am confident.

I continue with a selection from Calm and yet again, it features the voice that I have grown to like which is Jeff Warren.

https://www.calm.com/app/player/7KADquOnx1

The Momentum of Thinking, Jeff Warren

As before, it is not designed for encouraging sleep, but I am finding these short presentations to be somewhat more effective than those dedicated to sleep.

I will spend some time listening to other material/by other people. However, I repeat my warning of a few blog items now. Calm content is not free. I am not sponsored by Calm (or by anybody), so I am not trying to sell you a Calm subscription. However, if you already have such a subscription, the above might be interesting.

Repeating the theme that I have followed for a few weeks now. Let’s take a look at some content by a professional ASMR artist (if only to determine how it stands up against any inadvertent ASMR content that I have located).

Today’s video in this vein is this one:

ASMR School Nurse Lice Check (Scalp Inspection, Soft Spoken) ✨Intense Tingles✨

it is from a channel called Sister Sister ASMR this has forty-six videos and 52.4K subscribers. That is a whopping success rate of subscriber per video ratio, and so it bodes well for the quality of the above video. There are four playlists, but none of these are obviously on a medical theme. We have rather fallen into the rut of medical themed ASMR videos and, at the moment I am not trying to fix something that wasn’t broken to start with.

As expected Sister Sister ASMR appears on the ASMR index.

There are notes with the video which are not that interesting, other than the fact that the participants in this video each have separate channels in addition to this one:

“Emily’s channel: ‪@emvyASMR

Katie’s channel: ‪@xokatieASMR

Email: Emily.katieasmr@gmail.com”

Comments are permitted (which seems to be a theme with professional ASMR artists), and as is usual for such artists, the predominant comments seem to be positive. There must be a halo effect for such videos, in that they seem to avoid some of the more bizarre or downright derogatory comments which we have otherwise seen.

The video is thirty-three and a half minutes and so is moderately substantial. As I have commented before, the participants in professional ASMR videos are attractive and this seems more or less a pre requisite. I’m assuming that some ASMR afficionados are not ASMR afficionados as such, given they are more motivated by appearance rather than sound.

The tone seems to avoid whispering, which makes it slightly more believable than the more whispery videos that I have reviewed. I don’t remember a school nurse whispering at me but then it was a very – very long time ago.

That is not to say that the tone is not magnificent because (in common with other ASMR professionals) it is spot on.

There is background noise and this might well be air conditioning, and again, I am surprised it was decided to include this. I can only assume that realism is an important feature but I am continually searching for videos which do not have background noise. The occasional such gem is habitually peaceful, and reaffirms my belief that eliminating background noise is a worthwhile endeavour.

I suppose, given the length, I should have concluded in advance that this is one heck of a nit scan. I do not remember any school nurse taking thirty-three minutes on anyone’s head. I don’t remember the use of a set of size zero knitting needles either. I have a strong feeling that some ASMR devotees get their tingles from the sound of hair. Quite possibly, that sound is amplified by the needles being passed through it.

I am more interested in the voice.

So, in the end this turns into more of a personal attention video with an extensive section given over to hair brushing. It is doubtful a nit nurse would perform that service either. But I can kinda see why it was done. The last minute is dedicated to errors in the video making process, which for me distracts from the rest of it. Overall, I think the quality of presentation means that this one is deserving of recommendation. I do not really have a playlist for professional ASMR artists but I will add this one into the Sweetie Jar playlist in case you’re interested in listening for yourself.

So, tearing ourselves away from that, we move onto the purpose of the blog which is to review videos established for some medical purpose but which, nonetheless, turn out to be restful.

Today’s video is this one:

Primary Care Provider Physical Examination: Foot and Ankle

A little less than twenty-two minutes so it will not keep us for long.

There are notes, such as they are: “55,239 views 7 May 2021

David S. Levine, MD, demonstrates a foot and ankle examination.

David S. Levine, MD Profile│https://www.hss.edu/physicians_levine…

For CME credit and other courses visit│https://www.eacademy.hss.edu/”

Comments are (wisely in my view) not permitted. Although that does mean we have no idea if ASMR fans are watching this one.

It comes from the channel Orthopaedic Surgical Videos this has an amazing three hundred and seventeen videos and 48.1K subscribers. There are fourteen playlists, the largest of which has one hundred and four videos in it – I don’t think we’ll be reviewing all of those today.

The video starts without music and it has negligible background noise (air conditioning), so an excellent start. David it turns out has a calm voice, although I couldn’t say it was quiet. Nonetheless, one is placed at ease feeling that vocally we are in capable hands, as it were.

So, given the large number of videos on this channel, how to limit the subject of further review to a workable level. I thought in this case I would search for videos that feature David Levine.

There aren’t many, in fact only one further video featuring David occurs on this channel.

Obesity TKA

It is age restricted – regular readers will know my thoughts on age-restricted videos – I do not bother watching them.

I’ve only included the link in case you are interested.

In this case, it is not clear why the search retrieved this video, as I cannot see that David features in it at all. The notes are: “2,290 views 28 Jul 2023

Fred D. Cushner, MD, performs an obesity TKA.

Fred D. Cushner, MD Profile│https://www.hss.edu/physicians_cushne…

For CME credit and other courses visit│https://www.eacademy.hss.edu/

Chapter Points: coming soon…”

It is fifteen and a quarter minutes in length, Fred it turns out has a very loud voice, initially he starts out in an apparent hurry. There is no startup music and the background noise (air conditioning) is moderately loud.

It features some fairly upsetting (to many people) operation procedures. These have loud associated noises. There are jarring equipment noises and loud suction noises as well. Narration during the procedure is also loud. Background noises also seem to be, if anything, even louder.

There are loud drilling noises which could probably wake the dead.

This is just not a suitable video from our perspective.

So just one video this week.

Perhaps time for a bit of pre-sleep relaxation instead.