ASMR Sound Generation Simulating the Sounds Heard by a Fetus Using Interactive Evolutionary Computation

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a very popular form of entertainment among internet users nowadays. Users can listen to and watch ASMR content easily because they just need a headphone and a smart phone. Listening to ASMR sounds makes users relaxed and happy. Previous studies have demonstrated the relaxing effect of the sounds in the womb on the fetus. We believe that intrauterine sounds have a relaxation effect on adults as well. In this paper, we propose a ASMR sound generation system that simulates the intrauterine sound using Interactive Evolutionary Computation (IEC). IEC is a method to search for media content that matches the user’s preference. We downloaded eighteen ASMR sounds that the human body makes from the internet to simulate the sound in the womb. We presented the ASMR sounds to users by combining five of eighteen sounds using IEC. Two listening experiments were conducted. In experiment 1, the participants evaluated and scored every ASMR sound. In experiment 2, the participants evaluated and scored two ASMR sounds, which were the best individuals in the initial and final generations created in experiment 1. The evaluation values of both experiments have a trend of increasing.