Does HRT alter a person's voice even a little?

[Keaira]

O.o 

In regards to impersonations, I used to be good at: Movie-Trailer-Narrator-Guy, Stitch ( Lilo and Stitch ), Mickey Mouse, an Alice in Wonderland Munchkin and Yogi Bear. I also do some of my own voices which is always fun for telemarketers.  I can still do Stitch, Mickey and the Munchkin but my Movie trailer voice is not as good as it used to be.

[Annah]

I'm asking this for a friend in Japan because she say's she has noticed her pitch has gotten a little higher since starting HRT.  I dont think it does, but What do I know. We are both 7 months on HRT. dont know if that helps either.

I am under the firm conviction that HRT does not affect a MTF's voice at all. I just do not beleive that hormones can physically raise the voice box to a prepubescent state.

I believe the ones who do say their voice has changed from HRT is simply a placebo affect in which they feel more comfortable with their bodies on hrt that they try to alter their voices....even slightly subconsciously.

[Dana_H]

Well, I am not on HRT at all yet, but my wife tells me my voice sound much more feminine when I am actually feeling feminine...such as when I am getting quality time with our pet bunny. I have a hard time doing it on purpose, but it seems to happen relatively easily around cute animals, young children, and anything that awakens my "inner little girl"...like anything with Hello Kitty on it.    I think there is likely a significant psychological factor involved.

[Keaira]

You know, I keep getting told my voice is feminine/ gender neutral by friends, but I want to hear from my other peers. I'm laying it all out because I don't hear what they are hearing. And I think they are biased.

Pre-HRT, in the car. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1567589/Keaira/Voice/Memo.m4a

A few days ago I was trying to describe how I heard my Sister, Azmaria, when I talk with her over Mumble.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1567589/Keaira/Voice/Memo%20%282%29.m4a one voice was an OTT parody of a friend at work whom I'm kind of jealous of because he has a soft voice that is very feminine.

After she heard it she got a little down because she said I sound really good. And natural.

And this is me actually attempting a more feminine voice.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1567589/Keaira/Voice/Memo%20%281%29.m4a

[Beep]

Pretty much all of the above... sometimes I swear I stop breathing for a minute or more and don't even notice until I suddenly gasp and pant to catch up.  I'm not sure how much the voices thing is an artifact of my ADD, but I have issues concentrating on one thing for more than a couple minutes.  As for muscles, I'm pretty much tense all around.  The one time I got a massage, the masseuse said that in all the years she'd been in the trade, I was the most solidly tense person she'd ever worked on.  And kind of like the breathing, I have odd moments where I realize that I've been flexing a muscle for minutes on end.  Usually I don't notice this until it cramps up severely or it suddenly loosens and I notice that it hurts.

You poor soul. I know exactly what you're talking about because going through puberty as a guy with the mind of a girl can cause these kinds of effects on people like us.
It's like we're completely traumatized by having testosterone in us so we attempt to become men artificially by over thinking every move and thought we make and have.

My mother told me that, when I was a child, I would sometimes just sit and clench every muscle in my body and hold my breath for long periods of time.
Now that I'm on hormone replacement, I've been trying to achieve more inner peace by allowing myself to breathe more naturally, and relax muscles in my body when I'm not thinking about it, but it's very hard, and I'm only 24. I don't want to sound rude here, but for you it must be an even worse situation, considering your age. It must drive you insane sometimes.
Another thing is I have a hard time sweating, even while working out. Something went very wrong with our bodies as we progressed through puberty, and I implore you to find ways to heal yourself before it's too late.

We must allow ourselves to once again be controlled by our hormones. Body and mind, as we once were as children, instead of thinking about every thought and move we make.
May you reclaim your mind infected by testosterone. I love you.

[Keaira]

I know its been a while, but While I was playing the new Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta test, I was running with a few guildies and my sister. One of them was recording video and..well, I was not present for the NPC conversation. But that is my voice! God I sound like a teenage kid! and thats my natural voice!

How a Bounty Hunter introduces himself

[Assoluta]

Pretty much my experience as well!  People tell me all the time I should try to get voiceover work because of the strange and bendy nature of my voice.

The longer I've been in transition, the more I've lost the lower end of my speaking voice.  That's probably not a hormonal thing so much as a practice thing, because I had to force my voice down to get gendered as male when people didn't see my face.  That cracking voice thing never happened to me... quite frankly, puberty didn't do much of anything related to my vocal range.  I've been naturally high-pitched my entire life.  On top of that, I've always been a singer and I've always practiced loads of impersonations that kept my vocal range limber.  But, as I said, I lost my lower end due to me never using it anymore.  It took practice to get there and now it's gone.  No big loss, I say.

Same with me, singing has increased my usable range significantly. My voice dropped quite a lot, but I was able to bring it back up after practice. I still have my low range, although I have to force it, and I've lost a few of the lowest notes.

It's common sense though - estrogen even in genetic women does not make the voice higher - it is a lack of testosterone that stops genetic womens' voices from getting lower (although they get somewhat lower with age in many cases).