We grow up being secretive, so we learn from the beginning to keep quiet. But I've learned that letting go and being natural calls for lots of heavy breathing, moaning, and groaning. If I'm alone and let it just happen, there's lots of noise and the feeling is a lot more powerful. One time with total freedom seems to satisfy me, whereas I'm not totally satisfied if I've had to keep quiet. Give me freedom or give me — another session.
- age 67, Texas
This Week's Wackiest Response:
I like making oyster noises.
- age 17, New York
I'm noisy when I masturbate or engage in any other sort of sexual activity. I instinctively breathe heavily and groan in pleasure. It's so automatic and subconscious; I probably couldn't suppress it, even if I didn't have much privacy. When I finally have an orgasm and ejaculate, I usually grunt as if I were lifting heavy weights, and I moan loudly. The noises I make actually turn me on a lot and make my orgasms more intense.
- age 20, California
Except for the sloshing of the lube or something, I am silent. Occasionally I might whisper something or whatever, but to moan...that just makes me uncomfortable. Guys just don't moan.
- age 16, Florida
As long as I know that things are private, I love noise. The best noise is the sound of my sac slapping up against my hand. It really turns me on to hear that sound. I also like to imagine that someone is saying my name, so it's kind of fun to imitate their voices as I masturbate. But yeah — sound is a *huge* turn-on.
- age 19, Michigan
I love to make noises. I don't get too loud, but I breathe a lot heavier and make a few more grunting sounds.
- age 17, Texas
Even if I have plenty of privacy, I still keep quiet. I guess it's psychological or something: I think noise draws attention to me, and I'm afraid that I'll sound "like an idiot." Even during sex with my girlfriend, I still mostly stay quiet.
- age 19, Canada
When I have an intense, long masturbation session, the buildup to orgasm makes me squeal almost uncontrollably at a high pitch. If I don't have much privacy (such as in the school dormitory) I try to muffle my noises as much as possible, but I just accept that some people will know exactly what I'm doing.
- age 15, Germany
I am not so vocal when masturbating alone. Even when I have the house all to myself, quiet moans are about it. But when I masturbate in front of my partner, I am much more vocal. I get more carried away knowing that he enjoys watching me.
- age 46, New Jersey (female)
While masturbating, I enjoy the sound of my scrotum slapping against my body, but I do not make verbal noises.
- age 16, Pennsylvania
I usually use a lube, and just the sound of the up-and-down motion at various speeds is enough of a turn-on so there is no need for me to moan.
- age 45, Canada
I am too busy thinking about the moment to make any noise.
- age 12, New Jersey
I can't help but squeal, whimper, moan, and scream. I usually stuff my face into a pillow. Whenever a jolt of pleasure courses through my body, I let out a whimper. When I climax, I usually scream into a pillow to muffle it so that no one knows.
- age 19, Pennsylvania (female)
I like to be quite natural when I masturbate, as I find that attempting to do otherwise distracts my focus from my self-pleasure. When uninhibited — not trying to keep quiet or be loud — I normally grunt at ejaculation and then exhale after my semen is expelled.
- age 23, Indiana
I have never made noises when I masturbate, except when I ejaculate and begin to move around and make my bed squeak. I will try making noises sometime to see if it helps.
- age 14, Maine
I don't make porn-star-type noise, which seems ridiculously unnatural. But I do get easier and more intense orgasms if I moan or say things like, "Oh yeah," or "That feels good," or "Oh, (name of my fantasy)." It greatly enhances my experience.
- age 22, New York (female)
Making noises gets my penis ready when I masturbate; plus, my penis makes its own noises by the slapping sound of my testicles hitting my body with every stroke. I also like to make noises because it makes me hornier and it gives me a better orgasm.
- age 13, Hawaii
I live alone, so I have the freedom to masturbate whenever I want. I am usually silent, but when the time comes, I am very vocal. I have often wondered if my neighbors can hear me. If so, all right for them — I hope they enjoy it! Being vocal heightens my sexual experience. I have talked with friends about it and they, too, are vocal.
- age 24, Indiana
There is nothing like letting sensations take over and losing your inhibitions. The best orgasms I have are when I have privacy — usually when I'm home alone. Last month I pretended to be sick so I could stay home from school. That is the only time I can be home alone. I had planned this for a week and didn't masturbate at all, so when the day came, I was *quite* horny! I had 8 orgasms in 8 hours — screaming and moaning and convulsing. It is going to be hard to top that!
- age 14, California
Oh, I definitely make noises, such as moans and cries. For me, they are a perfectly natural release when it comes to sex. Back in college, my roommate used to tease me about it. She'd say she couldn't concentrate on her homework with all my moans, and then she'd head off to the library where it was quiet. I'm the same way when it comes to sex with my husband.
- age 43, California (female)
I love to make noises when I masturbate. I always do it when the house is all mine. I like to have phone sex and hear the person on the other end make erotic noises. It turns me on and makes me want to blow so badly. Moaning and groaning help make the session more intense and somewhat realistic — plus, it's a lot better, too! I get quite loud when I stimulate my anus — talk about an intense masturbation session!
- age 18, Ohio
Aside from the usual gasps and groans that involuntarily accompany orgasm, I am totally silent during masturbation. I'm sure it carries over from my teen years when my brother and I masturbated in the bedroom next to our parents' room. Silence was necessary then, and I still feel that way.
- age 80, Florida
I don't make noise when I masturbate. If I did, I would sound like a monkey!
- age 15, North Carolina
I am a professional dancer, currently appearing in the hit musical "Mamma Mia," a story set to the songs of Abba. I have found that my orgasm always feels more intense while screaming the lyrics of "Dancing Queen" at the top of my voice as I ejaculate. I suppose you could say that I just love to "feel the beat from the tambourine... yeah, YEAH!"
- age 20, United Kingdom
It's part of being female to want to moan and groan when masturbating.
- age 15, Virginia (female)
I find it hard *not* to make noise, even when others are around! At orgasm I usually let out a deep, almost growling sound. At times when I've been heard, I've been asked if I was in pain!
- age 38, Ohio
I like to make a lot of noise when I masturbate. It's just a turn-on to think that someone else in the house could know what you are doing, and at anytime be curious and just open the door to see what's going on. My room is right next to my sister's, and she has actually heard me masturbating at night. The next day, she comes up to me and tells me that she heard me. All I can do is laugh — and keep on doing it.
- age 18, Illinois
I never make noise when I masturbate, except for the squishing of lube when I get into it. I think it comes from the fact that when I was a kid, I had to be quiet when I did it. My sister's room was next to mine, so I got into the habit of being quiet. In fact, that's why I switched from humping my pillow to using my hand when I was 12. The noise of the bed made my sister come see what was making all the noise, and she caught me red-handed — or should I say, red-pillowed! When I masturbated with friends, some of them made grunting and moaning noises that always surprised me.
- age 26, West Virginia
My favorite time to be "loud" is late Friday night. My folks always go to the Elks on Friday and I'm home alone. A guy just a little older than I am lives in the apartment next door, and I can tell he listens, because soon I start hearing noises through the wall. Sometimes I really get going because I know he's there. Sure enough, when he sees me outside the next day, he just smiles as if he wants me to know he heard me.
- age 14, Utah
When I was younger, I would climax quietly because I was usually near family or roommates and didn't want them to know I was masturbating. Oh, I would breathe heavily and sometimes moan slightly at orgasm, but that was all. After marriage, I was (we were) a little louder, but still more quiet than noisy. When children were born, there was a continuing reason to be quiet. Now that the children are grown and gone, we are alone in the house when we make love. Now, I often wail as orgasm approaches, the pitch of my voice rising with the intensity of my feeling. However, when I masturbate alone, I may grunt heavily at orgasm, but I don't vocalize the way I do in partnered sex.
-age 60, New Jersey
When my parents go out and I am in the mood, I love to moan as I masturbate. It seems to heighten my orgasm; I think it's psychological. When my parents are home, I can keep quiet and have an orgasm. But when they aren't around, I start to moan. When my orgasm starts, I buck my hips up and down and it lasts a lot longer.
- age 15, Latvia (female)
I sometimes masturbate without fantasy; I just focus solely on the pleasure. Then I become quite noisy. I don't plan to moan or groan — it just happens. I like this a lot, especially when I have the increased time it takes to masturbate this way from start to finish. Without fantasy, it takes longer for me to reach orgasm and the noises just keep flowing, which add to my orgasm.
- age 54, Illinois
I embarrass myself making weird noises when I masturbate. But if I'm home alone, I like to mutter the names of the girls I'm thinking of. Or, when I climax, I mutter a sigh of pleasure.
- age 15, Florida
When I masturbate, I always breathe heavily and groan, ending with a long sniff after orgasm. It just happens. In sexual intercourse or oral sex with my wife, I cry out and shout at uninhibited orgasm.
- age 59, United Kingdom
I find that even when I have privacy, I do not like to make noises. I don't feel that it enhances my masturbation sessions at all. When I was younger, I would make noises just because I had always seen it in movies and porn. But now, I prefer just to listen to the noises that my hand makes as it glides from the base to the head of my penis.
- age 18, Australia
I make whatever noise I want! If I do happen to have privacy, and I deliberately make a lot of noise, it feels fake and premeditated. It has to come naturally; otherwise, it doesn't feel right. Everyone in my house knows that I masturbate; most of them masturbate as well. I usually try to keep it down, just to be polite. But if I'm feeling it, I just let go and they understand.
- age 15, Illinois