As someone who loves to be stimulated by sounds, listening to a passionate spicy story gets me totally in the mood – hello libido jump starter!
Forget horny goat weed herb tonic, serve me up a tall glass of an intimate audio encounter and its all systems go. I have explored erotic ASMR, spicy podcasts, audio/sonic porn, audiobooks/erotic novels being read in the accent of your choice and even pre-recorded private partnered dirty talk. But with so many options to choose from, I’m sharing my top picks for bringing the sense of sound in the bedroom through audio erotica. It’s time to open your sexual world to auralism and ear-gasms.
What is auralism?
Auralism is a concept that the body experiences sexual desire and arousal through sounds. What we see, smell, taste, feel and hear all contribute to the overall sensual quality of a sexual experience. When we are deeply in tune with our bodies; its movements, sensations and the 5 senses, including what we hear, we harness the ability to heighten a pleasurable sexual experience. Have you ever heard the saying ‘a painter creates pictures on canvas, where a musician creates pictures on silence’? This is exactly why audio erotica works so well, sound creates the steamy pictures through the power of your imagination, it’s pure erotic freedom.
What is audio erotica?
Audio erotica platforms and content have been on the rise in the last decade, especially since the pandemic. As an alternative to visual porn, audio erotica stimulates auditory pathways by listening to sexy stories and sounds that evoke the imagination. Research from the Kinsey Institute has shown that 90 percent of women use “mental framing” or “scenario conjuring” to get aroused. This is why Audio erotica can be, oh so, powerful for a woman’s turn-on and sexual experience.
The content and narration is crucial with ‘guided fantasy’ having a gloriously yummy influence over women’s subjective sexual arousal (SSA). Audio erotica can be spicy fictional stories, real life sex recounts, recorded erotic poetry and sex sounds or any audio recording that is intended for sexual response. All forms of audio erotica immerse the listener through words, tone, whisper, orgasm, groans, breathing and the silences that form erotic framing; awakening sensations through imagination, arousal, and climax.
Audio erotica and female sexual empowerment
I often find traditional visual pornography sites to be violent, not showing consent and safe sexual practices and often leaving out female pleasure. Unlike these types of videos, audio erotica has paved a digital space that addresses female sexuality, sexual arousal and needs.
As a sexologist, audio erotica bridges the needs for emotional and social aspects of sexual well-being rather than strictly focusing on physical aspects of arousal and sex. Audio erotica is a step in the right direction for closing the pleasure gap and I often recommend it to women and couples in clinical practice.
My top picks for erotica podcasts
Dipsea
Dipsea is a subscriber based app that has 1000s of tailored erotic stories. Dipsea is ‘focused on helping women tap into their sexuality more easily, all through the power of storytelling.’ The erotic stories are written ‘in house’ by a team of professional writers with new content released each week, often with a continuation of your favourite sexy characters. It has erotic audiobooks, sleep scenes (kinda like meditations) and well-ness audio-tracks. The app is marketed as an holistic approach to enhancing sexual discovery with stories created by women for women. For me dipsea cleverly promotes womens sexual empowerment, it is very easy to navigate and find a story to suit your intention. It’s often my go to for a self-care ritual or a high vibe intense story which is sure to bring multiple Os.
Quinn
Quinn is another epic audio erotic app that has 1000s of steamy audio clips which range from 30 sec personal uploads to 30 minute spoken stories. It’s a platform that allows users to also upload their own tracks and content, and it’s free. Quinn also has a section called read where you can read erotic short stories, a listen section where all the spicy/smutty stories are located. I found Quinn to be more of a porn site feel without visuals. It has many genres and filtering can be a little tricky but achievable especially if you know what you like. In saying that if there is a creator you like you can filter their work making it easier to find content you vibe with.
Bonus: Quinn offers episodes voiced by your favourite celebs like Fleabag’s Sexy Priest, Andrew Scott and Jesse Williams from Grey’s Anatomy.
Emjoy
This app has audio erotica and more. It’s a female sexual wellness app designed to help boost libido and provide sexual wellness education as well as spicy audio content. There are audio tracks from sexperts and relationship therapists designed to ‘enable women worldwide to learn how to boost their libido, tune in with their sexual self, and better communicate their needs’. It is a monthly subscription app there are also some free audio erotica tracks to peak your interest. They have cute little chilli pictures to indicate the spiciness of the story. The icon on tile indicate her+her, her+her+him so you can orientate yourself an filter out stories that interest you. I have only sampled the free content from this app.
Orgasm Sound Library
The Orgasm Library is a web-based platform where you can listen to a plethora of real life uploaded orgasms. The uploaded recorded content is anonymous and they are roughly 30 seconds -1min 30sec in duration. The website owner is BIJOUX INDISCRETS and they promote the diversity of female pleasure.
The site reads: “Hear what female pleasure really sounds like by listening to orgasms recorded by women like you, who are willing to remove the taboos imposed by society and by ourselves.” If you are turned on by real life moans, gulps, heavy breathing, sounds of bodies rubbing together then its worth while having a listen.
Dr Jess Wade specialises in trauma, sexology, sexual health and relationships, and somatic therapy.
