What We Measure

The total amount of fluid in your ejaculate. Too little can mean fewer sperm make it to the egg; too much can dilute their concentration.

How densely packed your sperm are per milliliter. Think of it as how crowded the pool is — more sperm per mL means more candidates for fertilization.

The big picture number: total sperm across your entire sample. This is one of the first things a fertility specialist looks at.

The share of sperm that are moving at all. Stationary sperm can't reach an egg, so this is a fundamental pass/fail check.

The sperm actually swimming forward with purpose. A key indicator of whether your sperm can make the journey to the egg.

The fastest forward swimmers in your sample. Speed and direction together make these your highest-performing sperm.

Sperm moving in the right direction but taking their time. They count, but are less likely to reach the egg first.

Sperm that are active but going nowhere useful — circling or twitching in place. Movement without direction doesn't help fertilization.

Sperm that aren't moving at all. A high percentage here is one of the more common causes of male infertility.

The straight-line speed of your forward swimmers. Faster sperm have a better shot at reaching and penetrating the egg.

Moving sperm per milliliter. More actionable than raw concentration because it filters out the sperm that can't do anything.

Forward-swimming sperm per milliliter — the concentration that's actually working toward fertilization.

Your fastest forward swimmers per milliliter. A high number here signals strong functional sperm density.

Slower forward swimmers per milliliter. Still contributing, but lower priority than fast PR.

Sperm that are both moving and normally shaped per milliliter — a comprehensive measure of sperm quality in one number.

The total count of moving sperm in your full sample. Puts your motility into real-world scale.

Total forward-swimming sperm across your whole ejaculate, often referred to as your TMC. A widely used benchmark in fertility assessments.

Total sperm that are both moving and well-formed. The closest single number to "how many sperm could realistically fertilize an egg.

The percentage of sperm with a textbook-normal shape. Oddly shaped sperm struggle to penetrate an egg, even if they swim well.

How many of your sperm are actually alive. Important because some sperm can be alive but immotile — a very different situation from dead sperm.

The proportion of sperm carrying damaged DNA. Even if sperm reach and fertilize an egg, high DNA damage can cause failed implantation or miscarriage.

The total number of properly shaped sperm in your sample. Combines morphology with volume to give you the real count of structurally sound sperm.

Your body's main male hormone. Low levels can reduce sperm production, sex drive, and overall reproductive function.

The hormone that tells your testes to make sperm. Abnormal levels — too high or too low — can signal a production problem upstream.

Works alongside FSH to trigger testosterone production in the testes. Out-of-range LH can disrupt the hormonal chain that sperm production depends on.

Men need small amounts of estrogen, but too much suppresses testosterone and impairs sperm production. Balance here is key.

A protein that locks onto testosterone, making it unavailable to the body. High SHBG can leave you with low "free" testosterone even if your total levels look normal.

Primarily a breastfeeding hormone, but elevated levels in men suppress testosterone and can directly reduce sperm output.

Used to calculate your free testosterone — the portion your body can actually use. Provides important context for interpreting your other hormone results.