Erotica by Virtual Reality on Sperm Donors

Does Erotica by Virtual Reality Improve Sperm Quality

Objective To study whether erotica by virtual reality (VR) during masturbation influences the quality of sperm donor ejaculates.

Hypothesis Erotica by virtual reality improves ejaculate quality.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Virtual Reality
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: Virtual reality headset

Detailed Description

The study design was within-subjects repeated measures, using balanced, randomized, controlled, cross-over sampling. Data was collected between 1 August and 25 November 2021 in the four largest cities in Denmark (Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense, and Aalborg) from consenting sperm donors at Cryos International. A total of 63 'accepted' donors (aged 19 - 44 years old and with a BMI between 17 to 35) participated in the study.

The VR setup involved a headset (Pico G2, Pico Interactive, San Fransisco, USA) offering a choice from 60 erotic videos each of 10-30 minutes duration. The men were allowed to watch any and as many of these video clips as they wished.

Sperm samples were donated in private rooms dedicated for the purpose and equipped with a touch screen showing erotic material. The men were asked to donate as usual and self-report the amount of time (in hours) since their last ejaculation (the abstinence period). Every other donation, donors rolled dice to determine whether a VR headset would be used; with the subsequent donation performed with the opposite condition. To maximize privacy and minimize stress on the donors, the amount of time the donors took to produce a sperm sample (donation period) was recorded as the number of seconds from closing the door to the private room to when it was opened again.

Each semen sample was weighed to determine ejaculate volume and allowed to liquify at room temperature for up to 1 hour. After liquefaction, aliquots were loaded in duplicate onto Makler counting chambers (Sefi-Medical, Israel) and observed at 200x magnification using an Olympus CX41 microscope (Olympus, Japan). Measurements of sperm concentration, motility and motile sperm concentration were made using a MICROPTIC, S.L. (Barcelona, Spain) Computer Assisted Sperm Analysis system with at least 500 cells counted per analysis. No analysis of sperm morphology was performed.

The investigators used linear mixed models (LMMs) to assess the relationship between VR-use and ejaculate volume, donation period and total motile sperm count (TMSC) for each ejaculate sample, while controlling for several factors that might also influence ejaculates: (i) abstinence period, (ii) donor age, (iii) donor BMI, (iv) day of the year (season), and (v) location (donation site). In each model, the investigators included anonymized donor identity as a random effect to avoid pseudo-replication as each donor provided multiple samples. The interaction between VR-use and abstinence period was initially included in models as abstinence period is known to increase ejaculate size and quality, though sometimes a decrease has been observed. The investigators considered it to be at least plausible that the influence of VR might diminish as abstinence period increased and both ejaculate size and quality approached their maxima for each donor. The investigators removed those interaction terms from models when p-values for the interactions was >0.20.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 63
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Denmark
  • Aalborg, Denmark, 9000
    • Cryos International - Aalborg ApS
  • Aarhus C, Denmark, 8000
    • Cryos International - Aarhus ApS
  • København, Denmark, 1620
    • Cryos International - København ApS
  • Odense, Denmark, 5000
    • Cryos International - Odense ApS

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 19 years to 44 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Must be able to donate at least 3 samples for each study arm (i.e. minimum 6 samples total).
• Must be an 'accepted' donor at Cryos International i.e. must have a post thaw sperm concentration of ≥5x106 per ml.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not an 'accepted' donor at Cryos International

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Virtual Reality; Participants use Virtual reality headsets as medium of erotica to produce their sperm sample	Device: Virtual reality headset; The VR headset was a Pico G2, Pico Interactive, San Fransisco, USA, offering a choice from 60 erotic videos each of 10-30 minutes duration. The men were allowed to watch any and as many of these video clips as they wished. The "No VR" arm, donors used the computer monitor available in the donation rooms.
No Intervention: No Virtual Reality; Participants did not use Virtual reality headsets as medium of erotica to produce their sperm sample. They used a computer screen to display erotica.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Total motile sperm count	The total number of motile sperm cells in the ejaculate. Counted by computer assisted sperm analyzer	Within 1 hour of ejaculate sample procurement

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Donation time	The time of which the sperm donors used in the donation rooms to produce the sperm sample	Within 120 minutes of commencement of donation of sample

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Cryos International
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Daniel Rosenkjær, Research Scientist

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Rosenkjaer D, Pacey A, Montgomerie R, Skytte AB. Effects of virtual reality erotica on ejaculate quality of sperm donors: a balanced and randomized controlled cross-over within-subjects trial. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2022 Oct 11;20(1):149. doi: 10.1186/s12958-022-01021-1.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 1, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 25, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): November 25, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 27, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 11, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): July 14, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 14, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 11, 2022
• Last Verified: July 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: virtual reality; male fertility; ejaculate quality; sperm donation; erotic stimulation
• Other Study ID Numbers: VRStudy

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No
• IPD Plan Description: The data will be publicly available on figshare.com, but in anonymized form so that IPD cannot be discerned.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No