What happens to your old voice?

[mixie]

I've read comments on here about mtf transsexuals who change their voice.  I know there are things you can do to alter your voice.  But I'm curious,  do you over time,  just lose your old voice?  Or is it always below the surface able to come out?  If so how do you feel about your deeper voice?   Do you ever wish you could just use that voice when speaking and not care if it sounds male or female?


Has anyone ever gotten rid of the voice completely?   I'm just curious so I hope this is not disrespectful.

[cindianna_jones]

You pretty much have to learn to speak in a feminine style. You don't lose your voice. The pitch is determined by the length of your vocal chords and they don't get shorter just because you are taking hormones. There are surgeons who claim to be able to tighten them and alter your voice to some degree, but it's a mixed bag. It's hard to find someone who is entirely happy with the procedure. Things may have changed over the past several years so I may be off on that point.

Having the lower voice doesn't have to ruin your life though. You can learn the female mannerisms. There are many women with low voices who you'd never suspect on the phone.

I hope that answers your question.

Chin up!

Cindi

[JenJen2011]

My old voice is still hanging out. I can use it whenever I want. I think overtime, as you use your female voice more and more, it becomes more difficult to use the old one but I haven't had a problem. I prefer not to use it at all but it comes in handy when I need to play another person.

[mixie]

You know I was just thinking about your other thread JenJen.  It would be so cool if I had another voice to use as the "secretary" of the company.  You might want to keep it handy!


Thanks for the replies.  I've often wondered.

[J R D]

I can't really go as low as my old voice used to be without a lot of effort and some soreness. But then I really don't ever have a need to do so either.

[AbraCadabra]

I've read comments on here about mtf transsexuals who change their voice.  I know there are things you can do to alter your voice.  But I'm curious,  do you over time,  just lose your old voice?  Or is it always below the surface able to come out?  If so how do you feel about your deeper voice?   Do you ever wish you could just use that voice when speaking and not care if it sounds male or female?

Has anyone ever gotten rid of the voice completely?   I'm just curious so I hope this is not disrespectful.

I don't THINK we will ever loose the 'old' voice... it's a bit like when learning to "speak in tongues" you will not really loose it, or?

But it will get more and more buried - in the mind... and once it comes out it is ABSOLUTELY frightening! A bit like some demon speaking out of you...

It does come handy though if on purpose you decide to "go there". It really scares people if that's what you want or need to do.
Say you are attacked (as a female) you go down there and shout at the attacker - he'll drop his pants and run for his life, thinking he just met the devil incarnate. Something like that.

It also can frighten very naught children, the one's that never listen. Father Xmas' voice from a WOMAN?!? So there are some uses still for it.

But as I said, if slipping into it by some other unintended reason it will be equally frightening to oneself.

That's my experience, and thank you for asking... and so why not ;-)

Axélle
PS: many happy returns - post number 2000 :-) now I shall have a glass of wine...

[eli77]

I've lost my pre-transition voice; in the sense of "misplaced." I'm sure it's still within my vocal range, but I'm really not sure exactly where it is anymore. But then I only increased the pitch by 30Hz and added a bit of missing head resonance, so it's not like there was a dramatic difference. I also never switched back and forth, so I never had that sense of using two voices. I've only ever had the one voice.

The female voice is around 200Hz - 220Hz whereas a male is down at 100Hz, but because the bone of your skull conducts sound to the inner ear you do not hear yourself as others hear you and you have to talk higher than you think.

Uh... my standard speaking voice is 175Hz. It drops further when I'm tired or upset. It has certainly never been seen as male. Hell even my pre-transition voice was rarely seen as male. Pitch works more like a "you must be this high to ride this ride" measurement. Anything over 170Hz is fine, higher really makes no difference as far as gendering goes.

[J R D]

Let's hope this doesn't turn into a voice measuring contest. 

[cindianna_jones]

I just tell people I sang tenor in high school.... and if I really try, I can sing bass.  Why not be totally up front about it? For there, it hides. The important thing is to mimic female behavior. The easiest thing that you can do starting out is listen to someone with an Irish accent. You'll notice that they end each sentence as though it were a question. Don't copy the accent, just copy the way their voice changes at the end of the sentence. It's not perfect femme, but it is a heck of a lot easier than anything else, when you are just starting out.

Cindi

[Alyx.]

Where does one get one of these voice spectrum analyzers?

[Jamie D]

I've read comments on here about mtf transsexuals who change their voice.  I know there are things you can do to alter your voice.  But I'm curious,  do you over time,  just lose your old voice?  Or is it always below the surface able to come out?  If so how do you feel about your deeper voice?   Do you ever wish you could just use that voice when speaking and not care if it sounds male or female?

Has anyone ever gotten rid of the voice completely?   I'm just curious so I hope this is not disrespectful.

Mixie, if you are interested about voice, you might find the YouTube videos on the subject by "candiFLA" to be useful.

[Keaira]

I've read comments on here about mtf transsexuals who change their voice.  I know there are things you can do to alter your voice.  But I'm curious,  do you over time,  just lose your old voice?  Or is it always below the surface able to come out?  If so how do you feel about your deeper voice?   Do you ever wish you could just use that voice when speaking and not care if it sounds male or female?


Has anyone ever gotten rid of the voice completely?   I'm just curious so I hope this is not disrespectful.

I use my own, untrained natural voice since puberty didn't seem to affect it in the first place. I have a gender neutral voice and on the phone, I get called Ma'am all the time. Even a guy I work with said that I sound like a woman over the factory paging system. And I have to almost yell to be heard over all the machiney that's running. It took me a loong time to accept that. I always thought it was pretty male. If I had to describe it, I'd say its kind of like Haruhi's or Boy-type Ranma [ Who was voiced by a female voice actress originally ].

Hikaru and Haruhi Halloween Scene {Dub with ShadowDan16}
Ranma 1/2 - Episode 1 - Part 2/2

[mixie]

This is all super cool.  I don't have my hearing aid yet so I can't hear it.  So I'll listen to everything in a day or two.  Thanks so much for all the contributions.

[Keaira]

Oh! I'm sorry Mixie, I didn't know you were hearing impaired. my bad. 

[Naturally Blonde]

I use my own, untrained natural voice since puberty didn't seem to affect it in the first place. I have a gender neutral voice and on the phone, I get called Ma'am all the time. Even a guy I work with said that I sound like a woman over the factory paging system. And I have to almost yell to be heard over all the machiney that's running. It took me a loong time to accept that. I always thought it was pretty male. If I had to describe it, I'd say its kind of like Haruhi's or Boy-type Ranma [ Who was voiced by a female voice actress originally ].

Ditto Keaira! I'm very lucky with my voice as it never really broke, so my voice hasn't needed any work or changes.  It was not so good in the past living as male as I got a lot of mickey taking from girls! I was in my mid 20's and they would say 'When's you voice gonna break' I was never taken seriously as a guy!

[Annah]

I've read comments on here about mtf transsexuals who change their voice.  I know there are things you can do to alter your voice.  But I'm curious,  do you over time,  just lose your old voice?  Or is it always below the surface able to come out?  If so how do you feel about your deeper voice?   Do you ever wish you could just use that voice when speaking and not care if it sounds male or female?


Has anyone ever gotten rid of the voice completely?   I'm just curious so I hope this is not disrespectful.

I haven't spoken with my male voice for so long that if i tried it would be as difficult to do that as when i first practiced my female voice. My female voice has been so adjusted that it is now a part of me...even first thing in the morning.

[Keaira]

Ditto Keaira! I'm very lucky with my voice as it never really broke, so my voice hasn't needed any work or changes.  It was not so good in the past living as male as I got a lot of mickey taking from girls! I was in my mid 20's and they would say 'When's you voice gonna break' I was never taken seriously as a guy!

I know. But other boys were the worst.

I haven't spoken with my male voice for so long that if i tried it would be as difficult to do that as when i first practiced my female voice. My female voice has been so adjusted that it is now a part of me...even first thing in the morning.

I know I cant do some of the lower range voices I used to do. like scream along with death metal bands. or do the movie trailer voice.

[Keroppi]

Here we go. Below is a spectograph of both of my voices. The one on the left me saying "This is my female voice" and the one on the right is me saying "This is my male voice".

....

Beverley

I got that program but I have no idea how to get it to display like that. Can you (or anyone else) give a simple step by step instruction on how to? Thanks!

[pebbles]

It's not lost completely my old voice is still their however it dosen't slip back or erupt unusually anymore. Even if I hurt myself I emit a high pitched yelp consistent with my current female voice. however I'm capable of using it however it feel more like the act when I speak in my "flat rest" note it's actually and androgynous inbetween. under certain circumstances I can slip into that androgynous voice when i'm concentrating hard.

Somtimes I intentionally use my old voice for calibration purposes. Somtimes when I've been doing stupid things like high pitched yelling all day the harmonics of my voice are slightly messed up so using my old voice for about 3 seconds helps "center" my voice again.