Sound connects
For some listeners, sound offers emotional shelter. For others, it provides a path back to local memories, language and cultural identity.
Based in Fujian province, A'ang (pseudonym) produces a podcast rooted in the culture of Minnan, or southern Fujian. She also runs Another-ear, a bookstore and art shop in Xiamen.
Her podcast, RadioAnEar, launched in 2021 with an episode recommending Hokkien music. Later episodes explored local folklore and folk beliefs, while new co-hosts joined the project.
Her work soon extended beyond producing episodes to creating spaces where other audio makers and listeners could meet. She previously ran an open podcast room program, lending equipment to visiting creators and helping them recruit live audiences.
"There was no single decisive moment. One thing simply led to another," A'ang said.
"Every time an episode goes live, I feel as though something has finally come to fruition," she continued.
After the show released a series about visits to local temples, listeners posted photographs of themselves at the sites featured in the episodes. Others shared new reflections on their relationship with the region, while some said the show had inspired them to start podcasts of their own.
"I started as a listener myself," A'ang said."That feels like the most natural thing."
What attracts young people to the program, she believes, is a particular sense of recognition.
"They want to understand a Minnan culture that is connected to their own lives," she said. "It connects memories of the past with a sense of belonging in the future. It is a living, changing culture — the customs and everyday realities of people's lives."
A bookstore offers a different experience from a podcast. It requires physical presence, touch and sustained attention. "It is more about adapting to the setting, so the threshold is higher," she said. "Sound in a bookstore is also part of the content."
Podcasts, by contrast, slip easily into everyday routines. Yet A'ang does not believe one medium will replace another.
"Some are thriving and some remain niche, but they coexist in a reasonable way," she said."Together, they offer a richer range of sensory experiences. This is something we will need and value increasingly."
While A'ang uses voices and local stories to foster cultural connection, creators of autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR, build another kind of refuge through whispers, touch and carefully recorded everyday sounds.
Tang Yuzhou, who goes by MTkoala online, began creating ASMR content in 2014, before the format had gained much traction in China. Her earliest videos, filmed on a phone, captured her turning the pages of books.
To learn about recording equipment, she turned to guitar forums and online discussions about capturing live indoor music.
What she gradually discovered was that listeners were not simply searching for pleasant sounds. They were looking for someone to keep them company.
A comment from one listener has stayed with her. "Everyone is exhausted. Everyone needs someone who can comfort them like an older sister," the listener wrote. "But then you realize that asking for that may feel a little selfish. There are not that many older sisters in the world."
Tang now often records in the small hours, when the city is quiet enough for her microphones to capture the most delicate sounds. She uses several microphones — sometimes four at once — to create an immersive, three-dimensional soundscape.
She organizes her content into three categories: a "calming corner" featuring spa and body-care themes; a "story garden" built around characters, narratives and role-play; and a "no-voice corner" devoted entirely to sound without speech.
Her favorite content focuses on head care. One episode released last year drew inspiration from traditional head-care practices from the Republic of China period (1912-49). It featured hair combing, massage with a bian stone tool, hot compresses and a heated moxa pouch.
"Head treatments are especially effective at eliciting a strong ASMR response," she explained.
Asked what makes a sound worth recording, Tang has a straightforward answer: Anything can work if it is comfortable to hear — even the shaking of a small packet of desiccant.
"There is no such thing as a sound that belongs exclusively to ASMR," she said. "If it feels comfortable to listen to, it is a good sound."
Whether through remembered rainfall, regional stories or the quiet sound of a comb, young listeners are turning to audio as a form of emotional shelter — portable, personal and always within reach.
