is surgery voice surgery an option?

[Guest melanie maritz]

I've heard you can lose your voice when you go for voice surgery which is really scary.

Does anyone know more or less how much it might cost and how effective it is?

I haven't done any voice training, but I got the impression that you have to keep doing the female voice and that it's a big effort. So do you then always have to concentrate on how you sound, or does your voice actually change over time with the voice therapy so that it isn't concentrated on, it just is the way it is?

[Sally]

I do not know about the costs of vocal surgeries but I do know that the process of shortening the vocal chords can indeed lead to serious complications the total loss of the ability to speak is a very remote possibility but it is still a possibility.

The real problem begins with the fact that shortening the vocal chords is only half of what is needed - they are also thicker than women's vocal chords and that cannot be surgically altered.

If you train your voice it will become less and less of a conscious effort as time goes by - for me with my low voice the only sirs I get because of it are on the telephone and I can live with that.

Love ya,

Sally

[Guest Mia J]

I have heard stories about people who really sounded horrible aver voice surgery.

Voice training takes some effort and work but does pay off.

Mia

[Guest KarenLyn]

I've only met one person who's had voice surgery and she needed voice training afterward because she sounded like a screeching cartoon character.

[Guest melanie maritz]

hmm it doesn't sound like they've perfected that surgery yet. Who knows? Maybe in the future they might find better methods.

I'm not gonna put my heart on it though, it seems better to train your voice

[Guest LizMarie]

I disagree.

I've spent extensive time researching this topic because I have a medical condition that prevents me from fully retraining one vocal cord.

Most of the fear of voice surgery stems from a report issued by Dr. Anne Lawrence back in 2004 that stated voice surgery (at that time) had a low success rate and a high complication rate. That report was nine years ago.

Interestingly, that same year is when Dr. Thomas (http://voicedoctor.net/surgery/pitch-altering-surgeries) began developing and refining new techniques. I suggest that you go to his website and see what he does. His technique raises the entire voicebox, removes the need for an adam's apple reduction, shortens the cords, and thins the cords. He has many voice samples on his web site. I've read accounts of many trans-women on another web site who have used Dr. Thomas and all of them have been quite satisfied.

As with any surgery there are risks and it may not turn out as you wish. But the evidence that I've evaluated thus far indicates that Dr. Thomas' technique is among the best out there for voice surgery. In fact, Dr. Anne Lawrence later amended her report to note that Dr. Thomas' method, though highly invasive, was also very successful.

NOTE: Voice surgery can alter the pitch, timber, and other technical aspects of the voice. After voice surgery, I fully intend to continue with voice therapy and coaching to improve the feminine aspects of my voice.

[Guest melanie maritz]

Well then it's good to know that it isn't as bad as I thought. I just don't want to constantly concentrate on how I sound , I want it to be that way permanently as if I was born female.

[Guest chibi_usa]

Well then it's good to know that it isn't as bad as I thought. I just don't want to constantly concentrate on how I sound , I want it to be that way permanently as if I was born female.

Ahaha it really isn't that hard. If I want to sound like a female I just remember the feeling. And after a couple of seconds I can talk on and on for hours without even knowing I remembered my vocal chords. So no. There is no big effort to keeping your female voice. Just lots of effort to start doing it.

[Guest melanie maritz]

Haha I see! I would have made an lol face but I don't know how :|

[Guest Sarah Faith]

I disagree.

I've spent extensive time researching this topic because I have a medical condition that prevents me from fully retraining one vocal cord.

Most of the fear of voice surgery stems from a report issued by Dr. Anne Lawrence back in 2004 that stated voice surgery (at that time) had a low success rate and a high complication rate. That report was nine years ago.

Interestingly, that same year is when Dr. Thomas (http://voicedoctor.net/surgery/pitch-altering-surgeries) began developing and refining new techniques. I suggest that you go to his website and see what he does. His technique raises the entire voicebox, removes the need for an adam's apple reduction, shortens the cords, and thins the cords. He has many voice samples on his web site. I've read accounts of many trans-women on another web site who have used Dr. Thomas and all of them have been quite satisfied.

As with any surgery there are risks and it may not turn out as you wish. But the evidence that I've evaluated thus far indicates that Dr. Thomas' technique is among the best out there for voice surgery. In fact, Dr. Anne Lawrence later amended her report to note that Dr. Thomas' method, though highly invasive, was also very successful.

NOTE: Voice surgery can alter the pitch, timber, and other technical aspects of the voice. After voice surgery, I fully intend to continue with voice therapy and coaching to improve the feminine aspects of my voice.

Wow LizMarie, while that does sound like it would be highly effective. I'm not sure that I would be up for yet another highly invasive surgery, then I already expect to have in the future lol. If you do get the surgery with this new technique please share the results! You have definitely got my curiosity going on this even if I doubt I'd ever do it, I would still be interested to know how it works out for you.

[Guest JazzySmurf]

Hi Melanie! So... I can't say much with regards to the surgery aspect. About the voice training aspect, I think that it is possible to get to a point where one does not need to concentrate on how one sounds. From personal experience, I recently had a strange situation where I needed to use a masculine voice, and it took me about a hour just to be able to speak "masculinely" (and I'm still not quite sure if I "passed")...

[Guest sophia.gentry58]

It is the "lot of effort" that gets me when talking about training my voice. It is difficult to find the time to dedicate myself to voice training. At some point well after beginning my HRT if time keeps eluding me I may decide to go under the knife.

Sophia

[Guest Sarah Faith]

It is the "lot of effort" that gets me when talking about training my voice. It is difficult to find the time to dedicate myself to voice training. At some point well after beginning my HRT if time keeps eluding me I may decide to go under the knife.

Sophia

I wouldn't say training your voice requires a lot of effort but rather a lot of patience, it isn't going to all come together at once. You just gotta keep practicing and practicing, and in time you'll eventually reach a point where everything just sort of clicks. As for time requirement, I practiced while working out, while showering, and when I was in the car by my self. Then I started using it online, then on the phone, and now I use it openly in public. You dont have to put hours and hours into it a day, just a little time here and there.

[Guest melanie maritz]

Sorry LizMarie, could you post that link again? When I click on it now it doesn't work

[Guest Billie De]

hmmm.. I was actually interested in going to the voicedoctors website but it seams to be down.

[Guest Billie De]

nevermind

[Guest melanie maritz]

It's strange, it worked last time but now it doesn't

[Guest Billie De]

Its up and working..

It was very interesting listening to all the results. Some were fantastic and other were actually a little concerning. Personally I haven't really decided to look at Voice surgery or not.. I would hate to have it done and sound like Minimouse.

Will keep working on my voice just with therapy for now.

[Guest Zeda]

As Sarah Faith put it, it definitely takes patience. I personally think that just practicing your voice is the better option. I mean, think about it: If you ever need to go under cover, you have two or more voices within your grasp Plus, I think the results can be better.

[Guest LauraJen]

I think there is merit for both options and there isn't really a right or a wrong choice, generally speaking anyway. It has to be what is best for the individual.

I mentioned me considering the surgery option in another thread because I was wondering if my voice was so bad I couldn't really do anything else with it. Someone used the vocaroo site to show clips of their voice so I think I will give this a go some time, not trying to sound perfectly female or anything, just to show people a starting point. There's probably loads of people with voices like mine and worse that have gone on to sound excellent. I just haven't had such feedback directly yet. As for practice, well, I am a musician of three instruments so I am no stranger to putting in a lot of practice for something, but the problem for me at the moment is not so much the time, but the space. I am constantly around people and I would very likely be heard. I don't really want to do anything yet though as I am not completely free of my parents yet, and don't want my voice to be stuck in female mode after practicing.

The other thing that concerned me was the practicality of consciously forcing your vocal cords to do something they naturally cannot every single time you need to speak. Plus for me there's the worry of not being able to pull it off on a bad day, you know how sometimes you just can't park your car in that space you normally do, or you can't play that piece of music today that you can normally play so well, etc.

As for the risks, I am the sort of person that will blow any small risk out of proportion, so there is that to overcome for me too. But it's not just about how small the risk is. I know the risk might be small but the severity of a risk depends on the consequence - for example, you wouldn't be too worried if you had, say, a 1% chance of tripping up on a pavement and grazing yourself, but you would if there was a 1% chance of you getting seriously injured in a car accident. The prospect of losing your voice entirely definitely sounds like a severe consequence to me.

I said to myself years ago that I aim to get through transition with the minimum surgery. I think that is very much justified. So will I go through with this? I am not sure. Realistically though I have a few years to think about it, probably by which the techniques involved will be even better than they are now.

Laura Jen

[Guest LizMarie]

Here's the thing - unless you have a medical issue or an extremely deep male voice, retraining your voice is far cheaper than surgery. And of course, you can still use your male voice if you choose.

In my specific case, with one paralyzed vocal cord, I cannot retrain that vocal cord at all. It only functions because of an implant that keeps it stretched to a specific tension and it vibrates in the upper middle male range. To fix that, I'd have to undergo surgery for the implant at a minimum anyway. Since I am going to have to do that, I decided to explore the options and found what I think is a viable alternative for myself.

Sarah, I'm still a bit more than a year out from having this surgery. My personal transition time line is slow but steady, and I intend to do it without incurring any debt, so that means saving, saving, saving. The voice surgery also is a hard demarcation line in the sand. Once I cross that line, there will be no going back so I will do my legal paperwork changes at that same time, approximately.

[Guest Frenchfeme]

Now the only question is how much the surgery cost

[Guest Sarah Faith]

Now the only question is how much the surgery cost

Welcome to Laura's Playground Frenchfeme!

You should consider checking out the introductions section of the forum and introducing your self to everyone!

Looking forward to hearing more from you.

Hugs,

Sarah