Moaning was one of the least-reported sensations in the study
A study has found that moaning is not part of the female orgasm and should be removed from a scale often used to measure the phenomenon.
Researchers at the University of Ottawa surveyed 637 pre, peri and post-menopausal women between the ages of 18 and 82.
They asked the participants to fill out a questionnaire about their orgasm experiences both when on their own and with a partner.
This included questions relating to two scales used to evaluate the female orgasm - the orgasm rating scale (ORS) and the bodily sensations of orgasm scale (BSOS).
The lead author of the study, Amy Elizabeth Webb explained: "Orgasm, particularly in older women, remains a poorly understood aspect of female sexual response partly because of a lack of validated self-report measures.”
“The ORS is a 28-item self-report measure used to assess the experience of orgasm on cognitive-affective and sensory dimensions,” researchers explained, while “the BSOS is a 22-item self-report measure used to assess the perceived bodily and physiological sensations experienced with orgasm, with context unspecified."
The ORS includes things like "trembling", "quivering", "building" and "pulsating" - as well as adjectives relating to emotional intimacy, like "loving", "passionate" and "tender".
The BSOS includes things like "faster breathing", "lower limb spasms", "facial tingling", "sweating" and "increased heart rate".
The women were asked to what degree they experienced each sensation on the scales.
Following
the study, researchers concluded that "copulatory vocalisations" - moaning - should be removed from the BSOS.
On this scale, it was one of the least-reported sensations, and therefore researchers concluded that it was of no use as a measure of the female orgasm, the
Guardian reports.
The researchers said: "We recommend that the item moaning be removed from the measure permanently."
Referencing a previous study in 2010, they found that moaning is, at least in part, "under women's conscious control."
Bodily sensations reported which were on both scales included "choppy/shallow breathing", "increased blood pressure" and "hot flashes."
Some of the most common sensations reported by the women were extragenital sensations, genital sensations and sweating
Scientists found that "pleasurable satisfaction was most important to the appraisal of orgasm."
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