Voice on T: down, then up?

[Guest JeanVier]

Hello, friends, JV here.

I am 103 days on T, and I have had so many great side effects, physical and psychological. One of the effects I most look/ed forward to was vocal changes, and, about a month ago, my voice dropped suddenly and quite a bit (half to 3/4 an octave, about). I also lost the upper octave of my singing voice (higher than speaking voice). I was so excited-- thought maybe I'd be a baritone by the first day of Spring. =

Well, since that Drop, my voice seems to have gone back up! Not quite back up to pre-T, but never as low as during the drop. Most days, it's a bit lower than when I started, and I have a good chest-rumbling feeling when I speak; but some days-- and for the last 3-4-- I don't have the rumbling feeling, and my voice is almost pre-T, unless I concentrate and work to speak only in Boy Voice.

I'm frustrated. I thought this would be a linear process. My doctor doesn't know why it seems to be down then up, rather than down and down-- her other FTM patients have linear vocal changes, or so they report.

Has anything similar happened to you? Do you have any ideas why this might be? My dose has remained the same throughout. Thanks!!

-JV

[VickySGV]

For me, it was called normal male puberty, and my T was coming the more normal fashion. My voice between 12 and 17 was all over the place, so it is a big window. You have only been on it a short time, so my suggestion is to not stress about it. There could be other factors in your voice changing its range, and that could be allergies, very mild strep infections, and sometimes even lunch. Smoking is another nasty impact there, or even exposure to smoking. Estrogen won't do what the T does so I still have the same voice timbre that I have had for years, for me it is where the voice comes from that changes it. You can feel your voice resonate just below the middle of your neck in male mode, so try moving its resonation down there. I do just the opposite and bounce mine off the back of my mouth.

[JJ]

I noticed something somewhat similar but the culprit turned out to be me which may or may not be your case.

I found sometimes my voice was higher and felt strained too. So I started looking for a pattern-and found that when I was around the people who were having trouble accepting my transition I was unconsciously pushing my voice up. My voice was normally low for a woman and when I was going through puberty my mother forced me to soften it and pitch it up into a more female range. I have known many other women who pitched their voices up because it is an expectation in females (Was on the debate team in college and a speech minor so was aware that many women have a different learned voice that they would need to drop for things like debate and extemp. speaking contests).

Anyway that habit is very ingrained and I still find myself doing it once in awhile. I suppose I unconsciously sound wrong to part of myself after 50 years of female speech and push my voice back into more familiar territory.

Also I know that as young males go through puberty they do have the variations Vicky mentioned.

Don't know if it helps but this has been my experience

Johnny

[Guest shaubjd]

Heya.

I spoke with a speech therapist a few weeks back who explained it like this:

From the first shot, my vocal cords are thickening, They are thickest in the morning after my voice has been resting, which is why my voice is deepest then.

My voice is "cracking" because my body is used to working a certain way to produce a voice but is now trying to accomodate vocal chords that are constantly changing.

My voice just started cracking and deepening this last week.

Thanks dude!

[Guest JaniceW]

I am no expert but I did live through male puberty and was graced with a full baritone speaking and singing voice. My recollection of my experience during puberty is that my voice went through hell and back again. I started as a young tenor in my church choir, puberty kicked in and I was unable to even carry a tune without my voice cracking and squeaking. One day it would be down and the next it would sound like a chipmonk. That lasted about a year totally getting less and less unstable progressively as my voice shifted from tenor to baritone. My choir mates had similar experiences, I know because we were a popular boys choir and the guys with me each were moving on as their voices changed and they could no longer hit those really high notes.

[Guest JeanVier]

Thanks for the replies, friends.

JJ - I have noticed that my voice is lowest when I am most relaxed, especially when those around me are comfortable with my transition (or don't know about the transition and just assume I am male); and my voice does tend toward being higher-- and toward more "feminine" inflections-- when I am around those uncomfortable/less comfortable with my transition. Great point.

Ladies-- Thanks for telling me that "male" puberty brought very non-linear vocal changes. I hope I don't go up and down for the next five years (I don't think I will!), but it is very reassuring to learn that young males' voices are unpredictable. So, I'm like a thirteen year old boy. Excellent!

Thank you all for replying. I am much relieved to learn that vocal changes induced by testosterone are usually non-linear. And, probably, because I am so focused and excited about vocal changes, a slight wobble in vocal range might seem like a Major Wobble to me. Thanks!

-JV