Would You Have Voice Surgery?

[Guest Zenda]

Kia Ora

Emily Ray’s recent post got me thinking…I’ve never had to ‘train’ my voice to sound ‘female’, however what I did find was after a while on HRT and living full time when interacting with others both male and female, my voice would ‘go with the ‘feminine’ flow’ in a more natural way…

When I had my psycho-surgical assessments[prior to have genital surgery], in the reports, my voice was described as “mid-range female”, what I was told was, my voice was slightly deeper than the average female’s but still within the female range…

How many trans-women here feel the need to have voice surgery or have professional voice training? Or are you comfortable with how it sounds now?

"Let your voice be heard!"

Metta Zenda

[Guest Donna Jean]

.

Nope!

Not me!

Don't need it!

Sure...early I thought that I'd have to take care of it somehow, but as time went by, my natural female voice came to the forefront.

Of course I worked on it on the way back and forth to work in the car and with a spectrometer...

Now, I live full time and pass/blend all the time...never been called on it!

(Well, except when I got called "Sir" yesterday on the phone by the lady at the Veteran's Administration....

Of course, she had my file right in front of her that said "Donald"....)

What ya gonna do?......lol

Huggs

'Donna Jean

[Guest Emily Ray]

The last time I was tested profesionally I tested just shy of the crossover range between male and female. That was in january and was a result of my own efforts to conciously raise it. It has been 7 months since someone actually read me because of my voice. I will probably continue as I have been with occasional testing to see if anything is changing or getting worse. I am not sure surgery is necessary for me, but what if I have the tracheal shave which can lower the voice. That is scary. I guess all surgery is risky. I am not sure yet that I need to risk it.

Huggs

Emily

[Guest Elizabeth K]

Two years of self training. It's inflection, vocabulary, and raised tone that works. I am STILL working on it - successfully I think. I will ALWAYS be working on it. I think I can eventually get it almost perfect.

And some people don't try, thinking where they are now is fine because they feel they pass... but my opinion is we MTF need to CONSTANTLY try to improve, and not be so lazy.

Yes - it would be nice to have a surgical means to gain a totally girl-like voice, but if that was possible every MTF would be getting it done. Maybe someday.

Lizzy

[Guest Zenda]

Kia Ora,

I'm sure there's a psychological process also going on in the minds of others when I interact with them in public...

In the visual impact, they just see a 'female', which leads them to dismiss the deeper that average sound of my voice...In other words how I look out weighs how I might sound and I'm automatically given the 'benefit of the doubt'femaleacceptance...I guess my voice could be seen as somewhat 'androgynous' but with a more female slant...

No doubt others here would have experienced something similar...

Metta Zenda

[Carolyn Marie]

I answered no to surgery, only because it isn't very effective currently, from what I've read, and has many side effects.

If it were closer to 100 per cent effective, I probably would.

I'm practicing, but need a lot more work. I do well for short conversations, but when I need to raise my volume, or talk for more than a minute or two, I have difficulty.

Carolyn Marie

[Guest Elizabeth K]

Kia Ora,

I'm sure there's a psychological process also going on in the minds of others when I interact with them in public...

In the visual impact, they just see a 'female', which leads them to dismiss the deeper that average sound of my voice...In other words how I look out weighs how I might sound and I'm automatically given the 'benefit of the doubt'femaleacceptance...I guess my voice could be seen as somewhat 'androgynous' but with a more female slant...

No doubt others here would have experienced something similar...

Metta Zenda

Bu we aren't always there face to face. The telephone is an example, also the 'order' speakers at drive thrus. There is the real test.

Lizzy

[Guest Hayley21]

I don't have a deep voice, but it's not feminine like I want it, so yeah I'd have surgery

Hayley

[Drea]

The last time I was tested profesionally I tested just shy of the crossover range between male and female.

Pitch means so little that this would be fairly meaningless measure anyway.

[Guest Donna Jean]

.

I've played with a spectrograph online...

I can get my pitch right into it!

Unfortunately I sound like Minnie Mouse...

Donna Jean

[Guest ChaosEverafter]

i voted yes i want voice surgery, and yes i want a voice coach.

i don't think there is any replacement for face-to-face instant criticism from an expert.

and for the surgery, i am for it because i have a very limited vocal range, and while my voice isn't deep, it is clearly male. even my best efforts at female voice turn out horrible. i think i would respond well to it.

[Sally]

I do not want to have any more surgery than necessary - it terrifies me.

I am not going to have any FFS - for better or worse, this is my face.

As to my voice - I am a few months shy of 60 and women of my age and generation (a lot of them smoked for thirty years) do tend to have deeper voices - it is the inflection that helps me - but I have always had that so the visual clues help.

At 6'4" and just a shade under 300 pounds a higher pitched voice would attracted more attention.

I had an instance not long ago at a drive through window _ I was ma'amed right off - something about driving right past the order speaker and making a huge, graceful loop toward the payment window - one of my blondest moments.

Love ya,

Sally

[Guest Cafe.Bike.Girl]

Even if voice surgery was more effective I don't think I really need it. I do get ma'amed some times at drive through windows and over the phone. It usually happens when I'm relaxed and in a good mood. A few friends have mentioned it weirds them out when I get hit it right but that doesn't happen very often. For myself I don't think there is a lack of ability just a lack of control and socialization so I think a voice coach would be very helpful. Perhaps it will be easier when I'm full time and not bouncing back and forth between the two so much.

[Guest oceanangel]

ooh my voice is one of my worst areas, ive had surgery and a lot of practise on it but nothing SEEMED to work but well, in the last 6-8 months its got better and more feminine, im not sure whats happened but i think its because im talking more and ive just found it easier

I did find at first i had to put an effort in to it and it tired me out alot from talking but thats gone, also i think because i became out to my office i relaxed more when talking to them but when i speak to clients or use the phone, I higher it (if that makes sense) but when i answer the phone i sometimes have prepare myself so i kinda do a long heeeellllooo when i answer which one of my co-workers has told me off for in a jokingly helpful way she has but i dont know if she knows about me yet, its kinda loooong topic between me and another co-worker who has somehow happily ended up as a really close friend

my speech therapist who after the vocal surgery failed rejected me was very happy with how its just changed.

anyway im wittering on a lot here so i shall say this and end this post

i had bad side effects from the surgery like looking up i feel a pulling inside my throat and i get tired when i talk alot and as i work in a people job, its annoying but kinda good in a way so i can escape from things with the best excuse ever lol x

[Guest Melissa 67]

I'm currently taking voice lessons, but if they don't help me I'll gladly risk the surgery.

Love ya

Melissa 67

[Guest sarah f]

I believe I have a good feminine voice so I voted don't need it.

[Guest Megan_Lynn]

am one of the few lucky ones when it comes to voice. My whole life my voice was always rather high pitched female like. Most all the men I came in contact with in any social setting would tell me I had a sissy voice( the really said it was a B#@%h voice but can not post that) and many though at first I was gay because of it. Even this past week with a cold and sounding very horse (at least to my ears) I was till ma am'ed every time.

[Guest Robin Winter]

My endocrinologist is getting me a referral for a new program that's been started locally. It's a voice therapy group for trans-women. I'm not certain yet what if any costs are involved, but being a group thing, it has to be cheaper than the traditional coaching, right? We'll see...

Personally, I have a very deep voice, so yes I've considered the idea of surgery and I still think about it now and again. I've not made any decisions, but it would certainly be a last resort for me. I've heard the horror stories.

[Guest Tasha_A]

I haven't even got a therapist yet so I don't have any surgical or hormonal effects on my voice, I find that when played back my voice is quite deep but I am ALWAYS ma'amed on the phone so I don't really know how my voice ranks.

[Guest Gabochi]

I've got a big Adam's apple and a deep voice (low baritone I think). Is there a surgery that can fix both??

[Guest Alexandra89]

If I was fairly certain it would work. As it stands, no. I'll just take advantage of my therapist's referrals to speech pathologists who are experienced with MtF voice training in the meantime.

My voice never descended all the way into my chest. Its resonance is kind of split between the two and I can't figure out how to separate it, so I'll need help. It's unquestionably male, but I think it sounds whiny.

[Guest jenzie]

.

I've played with a spectrograph online...

I can get my pitch right into it!

Unfortunately I sound like Minnie Mouse...

Donna Jean

Ooo, where can i find this online spectrograph?

[Guest Risu]

I voted no because I seriously do not need it. I am 6'3" tall so having a feminine voice was the only break I was given on this journey. I get ma'am'd all the time at work and on the phone. I still work on it to make it sound more pleasing to me which annoys the hell out of my family who tell me I don't need to change it. But I ignore their words because I know they have an agenda... and well both of my therapists have said I have a feminine voice and if they couldn't see me they wouldn't know but I still work on it.

I think voice is one of the hardest things for us to work on but as Julie T said something we need to constantly try to improve until perfect.

[Guest Riana]

I always had a fairly well-trained voice because I like to sing and hum a lot, so my voice control was always very good. I've been training my voice since the beginning of the year, and my friends online tell me I sound like a perfect girl, very passable. I've passed on the phone several times as well, including once with someone from the gender clinic who thought I was F2M! But I'm still not really happy with my voice yet, it costs me too much effort to maintain it and shouting is out of the question. It's also not quite how I'd like it to sound, but that's just practice I suppose. For now I'm happy, I don't need to pass 'out there' yet.

[Guest Little_cherry]

well I'm 18 and I started hormones with 16. Luckily my voice never got really deep. it defenitely got deeper, but on the phone people call me mrs. so thats a good thing I think

but for the ones who do have a very deep voice, I recommend singing songs of female artists. I've been a huge avril lavigne fan so I always sang her songs and I dont know, but maybe this also helped me that my voice never got that deep and / or I can talk like that in a feminine voice.

I don't think voice surgery / removing adams apple is a good thing because you can read everywhere that its very risky and the resulsts aren't that satisfying.

best wishes cherry xxx