What is sounding and how is it pleasurable?
Professor Adam Taylor on the risks and thrills of urethral sounding
What do earphones, olive seeds and a coyote rib have in common? Give up? They’ve all been removed from a human urethra. Yes,you read that right. In case you’re wondering, the human urethra is atube that carries urine from the bladder to outside the body. I know.Ouch.
Some people find it sexually pleasurableto insert objects – known as sounds, which are typically small glass ormetal rods – or even fluid into the urethra. Many objects have been usedfor sounding, however, and that’s one of the reasons the practice is sohazardous.
The urethra is a narrow outflow tube,usually less than 9mm wide, so squeezing objects into it isn’t usuallyrecommended. An exception is medical procedures, when surgical tools andcamera apparatus may be inserted into the urethral passage to stretch or widen it so urine can pass through.
Theuse of objects and implements for sexual self-stimulation is not newbut it is risky. There’s a high likelihood that sounding practitionerswill need medical or surgical intervention at some point because oftrauma from insertion, and the potential loss of the object.
Accordingto studies, many household objects have been used as sounds. Be warned,the list makes for eye-watering reading. Those recovered from maleurethras include forks, telephone cables, 1m long electrical cable, tennis racket wire, metal piping, nail clippers, an allen key, needles, olive seeds, batteries, rubber tubing, headphones, 67 magnetic balls, a coyote rib, and a 45cm decapitated snake.
'What do earphones, olive seeds and a coyote rib have in common? They’ve all been removed from a human urethra'
Women, however, have a much shorter urethral tube in which to insertthings, which increases the likelihood of retention of the object andits movement into the bladder. While women are far less likely to end upin accident and emergency after a sounding incident, various objectshave been found in women’s urethra, including an eye-liner pencil, sex toys, vibrators, and a small glass ampoule.
Asmall number of women have a congenital condition known asmegalourethra, which, as the name suggests, means “large urethra”.Megalouretha can lead to retention of objects in the urethra or bladder from clinical examinations such as cervical screening.
Itis unclear how often sounding is practised or by how many people amongthe general population. However, research focuses primarily on menbecause they make up the majority of cases seen in emergency rooms.Also, men make up 85% of object retrieval cases from other bodily orifices.
Therisk of serious injury from sounding is increased in males because,whether the penis is flaccid or erect, the urethra is not a straighttube. It takes several turns to pass through the pelvic floor muscles,prostate and then, if inserted far enough, the bladder.
Theseturns increase the risk that whatever is being inserted might actuallypuncture through the urethral wall, prostate or bladder, then nearbystructures, which can include major blood vessels and nerves resultingin long-term issues.
'It is unclear how often sounding is practised or by how many people'
That’s why it’s almost exclusively menwho’re injured during catheter insertion by trained medicalprofessionals. And if medically trained professionals find such aroutine job tricky, then it’s easy to see why the people who indulge inurethral sounding for sexual pleasure can so easily end up in theemergency room.
Urethral damage exposes the underlying connective tissues which can cause blood in the urine, as well as erectile dysfunctionand even bladder rupture. Trauma and damage may lead to furthernarrowing of the urethra in later life which may require medicalintervention. Soundingalso carries a risk of sexually transmitted conditions, as well asother bacterial infections from inserting non-sterile objects orimplements.
The body may also attempt to limitfurther damage by calcifying objects stuck internally. For example, inone case, a large calcified stone formed around the plastic ink chamber of a pen, which had been inserted into a man’s urethra and bladder.
If sounding objects become stuck, there are two possible removal options. First, cystoscopywhere a camera is inserted into the urethra to retrieve the lostobject. If that procedure proves unsuccessful, then a patient may need surgery to go through the abdominal wall to get to the bladder and remove the object that way.
'This may sound like a lot of pain for a small amount of pleasure, but sounding can be highly gratifying'
All of this may sound like a lot of pain for a relatively small amount of pleasure, but sounding can be highly sexually gratifying for some people. Thearousal and subsequent stimulation of the erectile tissue of the penisand clitoris usually occurs through one of two mechanisms: psychogenic (images or thoughts) or reflexogenic (touching).
The reflexogenic pathway is served by nerves which also innervate the lining of the urethra – the dorsal nerve(s)of the penis or clitoris. The stimulation of this nerve will contributeto the arousal process and offers an alternate simulation to that ofthe external surface of the penis or clitoris.
Forthose individuals who perform sounding, or wish to, it is important torecognise the significant risks of infection and short- and long-termnerve damage that may well preclude sexual activity of any kind.
Anysounding devices should be purchased from reputable suppliers – ratherthan using household objects – and should be cleaned properly to reducethe risk of introducing pathogens into the body. Specific lubrication toprotect the internal urethral lining should also be used.
Adam Taylor (he/him) is a Professor of Anatomy and Director of the Clinical Anatomy Learning Centre at Lancaster University. He has a passion for understanding how the human body functions and his teaching focuses on the relationship between the body and our day to day experience. This piece first appeared on The Conversation.