Types
There are two types of penile plethysmograph:
- Volumetric air chamber
- When this is placed over the subject's penis, as tumescence increases, the air displaced is measured.
- Circumferential transducer
- This uses a mercury-in-rubber or indium/gallium-in-rubber ring or electromechanical strain gauge and is placed around the shaft of the subject's penis to measure changes in circumference.
The circumferential type is more common, but the volumetric method is believed to be more accurate at low arousal levels.
Significant suppliers of PPG machines include Behavioral Technology Inc. and Medical Monitoring Systems. The device is known to be used in Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Norway, Slovak Republic, Spain, and the United States.
The surgical machine is supplied as CaverMap by Blue Torch Medical Technology, Inc.
A roughly equivalent procedure for women, vaginal photoplethysmography, measures blood through the walls of the vagina, which researchers claim increases during sexual arousal.
Read more about this topic: Penile Plethysmograph
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