Play Me Interactive Sonification Of Sexual Arousal In Long

Play Me: Interactive Sonification Of Sexual Arousal In Long
Music is the best medium for expressing emotions and arousal nonverbally. PLAY ME is a gender-neutral Arduino-based system that allows partners in a long-distance relationship to perceive each other’s sexual arousal and to provide stimulation of erogenous zones using music. PLAY ME’s main parts are a tiny pneumatic anal probe connected to a pressure sensor and a bodysuit with integrated vibrators. Whenever both partners wear these devices, a real-time exchange of emotions and corporeal feelings can be enabled. Three sensors capture genital sexual arousal and transform it into music: a pulse sensor, a sensor for galvanic skin response and a pneumatic anal pressure probe. The anal probe measures pelvic tensions and contractions. Its signal controls the main voice. Higher arousal leads to stronger pelvic muscle tensions. Measured data are mapped to pitch, so the level of sexual arousal is audible in a comprehensive way, and orgasms can be clearly identified by regular pulsating sounds. The pulse sensor and the skin response sensor are the driving rhythm and drone frequency. The vibrators in the bodysuit are controlled by sound that is generated by the partner using any audio source. Mixing the sounds generated by the sensors and the instrument leads to interactive music that can enhance erotic feelings and sexual arousal in the way of biofeedback. This article describes the background and construction of the PLAY ME system and shows diagrams of sensor values recorded during sexual stimulation. After a discussion of the results, there is an outlook toward further development.

1 Introduction
More and more couples live in long-distance relationships. Some people study far away from home or work in foreign countries due to globalization. Thus, they cannot meet their partners in the flesh for a time. One of the challenges this leads to is a lack of intimacy. This does not only mean touching, hugging and kissing but also mutual sexual stimulation. Most devices that are available are designed for the sexual stimulation of the genitals. They can be remotely controlled by apps or over the Internet. Some examples of long-distance relationship sex toys are mentioned in Cosmopolitan Magazine [1]. Most of them are intended to stimulate women and are controlled by the partner. The number of devices made for men appears to be significantly lesser.

The aim of these devices is not only to facilitate remote tactile stimulation but presumably also to express love, tenderness and lust. In most cases, the feedback is restricted to audiovisual communication such as the so-called dirty talk. A direct corporeal feedback using biosignals is rare and can be found only in few prototypical arrangements such as the Neurodildo [2].

The innovative idea of PLAY ME is to implement musical structures to support remote tactile stimulation and moreover to get an emotional audio feedback of physical sexual arousal in the form of musical strains. It can thus be used to enhance self-perception during masturbation, to add a new level of life performances and to keep long-distance relationships thrilling.

The term PLAY ME was chosen to express that the system can be seen as an invitation to use one’s own body as a musical instrument.

PLAY ME consists of two main components. The first component contains audio-controlled vibrators integrated into a bodysuit. They are designed to provide tactile stimulation of the genitals and other erogenous zones. The audio signal can come from any source. In the PLAY ME prototype, a synthesizer played by the partner was used to control the vibration intensity as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1
Music-controlled vibrator.

The task of the second component is to provide acoustic feedback of sexual arousal from the person who is being stimulated. It consists of biosensors that capture corporeal changes caused by sexual arousal. Figure 2 shows that the sensor signals generate chords by sonification. Sonification is the use of nonspeech audio to convey information and to perceive data relations [3,4].

Figure 2
Feedback of sexual arousal using sonification.

In a single-user environment, the person plays her/his own synthesizer to provide genital stimulation and receives feedback in the form of musical strains controlled by the biosensors as illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 3
PLAY ME for a single user.

When two systems are brought together, PLAY ME can be used for the exchange of sexual stimulation and musical feedback between partners in long-distance relationships. This is shown in Figure 4. It is the main purpose of PLAY ME.

Figure 4
The use of PLAY ME in long-distance relationships.

2 Background
2.1 Sexual arousal and orgasms
Orgasms are profound sensations surrounded by love, ecstasy, myths and taboos, accompanied by psychological and physiological changes. In literature, art, dance and music they are predominantly depicted as a holistic experience.

This concept was radically deconstructed by Masters and Johnson. In their famous book, Human Sexual Response [5], they reduced the sexual response cycle to corporeality and physiological changes. Their four-stage model of sexual response has been the most popular finding and has thus been cited in many publications about human sexuality.

Nowadays several methods are made use of for orgasm research. Most frequently, research measure the pulse amplitude, heart rate, skin conductance, blood pressure and breath rate and record them for a gender-neutral quantification of corporal effects during sexual arousal. Examples for cardiac rates can be found in Masters and Johnson [5, p. 35 Figure 3-2, p. 132 Figure 9-1 and p. 175 Figure 11-1]. Nevertheless, an accurate identification of an orgasm is impossible with only these parameters. Fortunately, however, orgasms can be detected by a clear-cut pattern: irrespective of gender, orgasms coincide with rhythmic contractions of the pelvic muscles which cannot be seen at any other time. In a clinical context, an orgasm is defined as the “sudden discharge of accumulated sexual tension during the sexual response cycle, resulting in rhythmic contractions in the pelvic region” [6]. The easiest and gender-neutral way to capture these tensions and contractions involve the use of anal probes [7].

2.2 Music and emotions
Even diagrams of the most impressive orgasms do not provoke any feelings. Showing them is not suitable for igniting passion in long-distance relationships.

The relations and interactions between music and emotions and between composers, musicians and listeners have been discussed and pondered by music philosophers, neuroscientists and other academics for a long time. An extended debate can be found in a paper by Michael Huppertz [8]. He notes: “It will be demonstrated which qualities make emotions musical and which make music emotional. Emotions and music may interact as scenarios and ‘scenic objects’. Finally: What about the reality of musical emotions?” If sexual interactions between lovers can be seen as “scenarios,” there is an interaction between emotions and music provided by PLAY ME. Another “review of the current state of investigating music evoked emotions” is presented in a paper by Hans-Eckardt Schaefer [9].

2.3 Music-controlled vibrators
The idea to control vibrators by music was realized more than 10 years ago by a commercial sex toy called OhMiBod®. It was introduced as an iPod® vibrator and directly connected to an audio cable. OhMiBod was licensed under U.S. Patent No. , which expired in August 2018. Now there are improved wireless versions with apps available on the market produced by the companies OhMiBod [10] and KIIRO® [11]. Most of those so-called mp3 vibrators are made for women, but there are also a few ones for men [12].

3 Construction
The major component of PLAY ME is a small pneumatic anal probe intended to measure the tension and contractions of the anal sphincter during genital sexual arousal and orgasm. It was invented by the author to enhance the experiments of sex researcher Nicole Prause, PhD. The final shape of the head was developed in cooperation with her and the base was designed according to her specifications. To make the pressure changes audible, the probe is connected to a pressure transducer which is connected to the analog input of an Arduino®-compatible board. This board is connected to a computer running Processing [13] and SuperCollider [14].

These programs were written by the author using free available libraries. The pulse sensor and the sensor for skin resistance employed within the system are available from online merchants.

Although many music-controlled vibrators are available, the author built a simple Arduino-based system to control the vibrators meant to be integrated into the bodysuit in a flexible way. The usual vibrators on the market are too big, smaller ones are used in PLAY ME. Furthermore, the idea was to be able to adapt the position of the vibrators in the bodysuit to the preferences of the wearer and also to control all of them at once as well as each one individually.

The diagram in Figure 5 shows a connection scheme of the basic components which the PLAY ME prototype consists of. The upper left part depicts the electronics used for digitalization of the biosignals (Sections 3.2 and 4) captured by the probes and electrodes integrated in midsection which represents the bodysuit (Section 3.3). The bodysuit contains vibrators driven by the electronics shown in the lower part (Section 3.1). The right-half describes the connections of the devices used for sonification (Section 5).

Figure 5
Connection scheme of basic components.

3.1 Music-controlled vibrators
Employing an Arduino compatible microcontroller and commonly available electronics makes this do-it-yourself construction very cheap and simple. Only a transistor, a diode, a resistor and some wires are necessary besides the microcontroller. A more secure and versatile version uses the so-called motor shield.

For the PLAY ME prototype, an iPad® Air 2 and the App Garage Band® as shown in Figure 6 are used to play the music which controls the vibrators. The iPad® is connected to an analog input of a Teensy® 3.2 using a small adapter as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 6
iPad® Air 2 with app Garage Band.

The analog-to-audio adapter is connected to an analog input of the Teensy® board. As depicted in Figure 8, the board operates the motor drivers DRV8838, which drive the vibrators shown in Figure 9.

Figure 8
Teensy® board with motor drivers and connectors.

3.2 Biosensors
Electrocardiogram (ECG), electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyogram (EMG) and galvanic skin response (GSR) are commonly used to collect data from a human body during a sexual response cycle. Changes in breath, temperature, blood pressure or blood oxygen level can also be gauged by a number of instruments. Anal probes in addition measure the tensions and contractions of pelvic muscles during sexual arousal and orgasm.

For practical reasons, the number of sensors in PLAY ME needs to be as small as possible. At the same time, their signals have to be significant enough for the evaluation of genital arousal. And they have to be suitable for easy sonification.

Only three sensors meet these demands: pulse amplitude, GSR and pelvic muscle tension. In the case of sonification for PLAY ME, GSR is not mandatory.

3.2.1 Pulse amplitude
Pulse amplitude and pulse rate can be measured by a simple optical sensor using green light. In most cases, it will be attached to the index finger or the ear lobe. Within the maker community pulse sensor amped shown in Figure 10 is the most frequently used sensor. A comprehensive introduction with exemplary programs can be found in theorycircuit.com [15].

3.2.2 Electrodermal activity – GSR
“EDA is a sensitive psycho-physiological index of changes in autonomic sy