Echo & Alexa Forums

General Category => Alexa Assistive Technologies => Topic started by: strayfish on July 12, 2018, 11:20:32 am

Title: New skill for streaming sounds that aid relaxation and sleep.
Post by: strayfish on July 12, 2018, 11:20:32 am
You may not have heard of ASMR (Autonomous sensory meridian response ), it's a response among some people to particular frequencies and repetitive sounds that causes a deep sense of relaxation. Some use it to help concentrate on work such as writing or art work (and there are claims that it promotes creativity), others use it for sleep where intrusive anxieties disturb and disrupt this. The research is patchy but my sense (as a psychologist coming at this from a number of angles) is that the neurological underpinnings may be triggering for many the release of oxytocin which has a deeply relaxing effect.

The relevance here is that many of these tracks are in video form via YouTube which means you can't stream them as music tracks and, even if you don't actually want to watch, you can't access them via Echo devices. Some are 10 hours long and so cover the whole night which is a huge advantage for people with sleep disturbance and may also be useful for people on the autistic spectrum.

Recently though I found a skill called My Pod which I discovered can add links to YouTube videos, and after a couple of trials, I can confirm that the tracks can be accessed via Dots, Echos, and Shows. There's a free account which allows a limited number of tracks but not play length. For a small donation to the developer, that can be increased. It seems easy to use and, given that you might want to do this via a mumble from under the duvet at three in the morning, that's important. You just need to name your tracks carefully  :)