Thanks for that and lovely to meet you!Hi! For those who haven't met me, I'm a vocal coach (and SLP in Texas) who provides gender aligning voice training. If anyone has any questions or wants to talk about voice I am always happy to chat voice
Thanks for asking! T thickens vocal folds, which will help drop your pitch (your F0- the frequency which with the vocal folds vibrate at) and give your voice a buzzy quality. These qualities will increase over time as your folds thicken. There is a lot more to the listener's perception of voice gender than pitch and buzz- that's most of why before puberty AFAB and AMAB sound different (there is a small difference in resonance from the difference in resonant chamber size). You can work on lowering your larynx height, using more of your vocal folds during speech (to get more buzz), and opening your mouth more as you speak (to darken your articulation). You can also change the window dressing- the non-voice parts. These will vary by culture, and I recognize that there are a lot of cultures here! Here in America stereotypical masculine speech is characterized as using indirect language, less precise/light articulation, a slower rate, a more monotone intonation with pitch downdrift (flat/fermata), and use of increased volume for stress. I hope that helps!
Thank you!
When you're ready, it's something you can work on
Might be ready sooner than I thought. Got misgendered in person twice this week after not having it happen for a long time. I didn't speak much but it had to be a factor.When you're ready, it's something you can work on
Since your website doesn't email me when I get responses I don't think I'll get swamped
. I'm happy to answer questions when I'm visiting. Here is my cheat sheet about vocal hygiene in case it will help. I find my clients often can thin their mucus/have less irritated vocal folds if they are well hydrated and managing their allergies and reflux. Surgery makes things wonky though sometimes- fortunately though on Friday I didn't hear any signs your folds had been nicked during intubation.
Not wanting to be misgendered is the most common thing my clients tell me when we start working together.
Thanks for that information Tallulah! The nurses have been telling me all week I don’t drink enough! They asked me if I had any expensive dental work prior to putting me under, explaining that inserting the airway can damage teeth, but I never considered damage to vocal folds! I hope @Linde is aware of this!Since your website doesn't email me when I get responses I don't think I'll get swamped
Yes, I do many things for adjustment of resonance for trans women: laryngeal elevation, twang, OEP constriction, tongue carriage forward/elevation for vowels, etc. You're basically reshaping your cavities shape and size to get a different resonant quality. I do intend to join y'all again on Zoom, and I also do private vocal coaching.
Hi Sam! T thickens your vocal folds, which can add more of a buzzy and darker quality to your voice. Sometimes voice pitch drops quickly, sometimes it can take a year or more. I am not aware of any predictor variables for how fast T will change your voice. There are many aspects of your voice pitch and resonance you can work on in the meantime- lowering your larynx, twang, OEP opening, tongue carriage lower/back, pitch lowering exercises. There are also a lot of aspects to voice and communication that are separate that you can modify to suit how you want your voice to sound- how fast you speak, how clear your articulation is, what language you choose, what intonation pattern you use, etc.
