The "Does my voice pass?" thread

[Shawn Sunshine]

I have one I like better called singsharp on android. It tests frequency and note as well as exercise

[bronlee]

Hello kind people,
This is a wonderfully helpful site.
I have made one recording in PRAAT and another using WASP. The WASP file is saved as a wav file. WASP is excellent to show the frequency throughout the recording.
The PRAAT analysis tells me my average frequency is 226.2Hz and the F3 formant is 2955.6 Hz. Thank you very much Jenny. According to Jenny's description of PRAAT, my voice should sound feminine, however, I would like other people to listen and give me their assessment. I am over 60 years old.
How can I attach the PRAAT recording to a message to the forum so that other's can assess my voice, please?
Bronwen.

[Dena]

Use sound cloud, vocaroo or some other hosting site to hold the voice file then bring the link here and include it in your post. You can look at a previous post with the quote function to see how other users did it. Vacaroo will only hold message for a limited amount of time before they are deleted so if you want the voice to remain here, consider another hosting site.

[bronlee]

Thank you very much, Dena.

[Paige]

Hi All,

I haven't tried this in a while.  I think I'm getting better.  What do you think?

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0AHgBDd6zFM

Thanks,
Paige

[Dena]

Your voice threw me for a moment until I checked your location so I knew what the accent was. There is plenty of inflection and for the most part the pitch is in the feminine range. There are a couple of time that I think you momentarily dropped to the bottom of the feminine rage but it's not anything the ordinary listener would pick up on. I think the voice should be gendered feminine and it shouldn't be misgendered over the phone.

[Paige]

Your voice threw me for a moment until I checked your location so I knew what the accent was. There is plenty of inflection and for the most part the pitch is in the feminine range. There are a couple of time that I think you momentarily dropped to the bottom of the feminine rage but it's not anything the ordinary listener would pick up on. I think the voice should be gendered feminine and it shouldn't be misgendered over the phone.

Hi Dena,
So you like my Canadian accent eh?    I think I need to practice a lot more, but thank you so much for the input, it's very encouraging.  It's funny I've tried a few times using my voice with telemarketers,  I'm getting better at fooling them.
Paige

[Dena]

My  first full time job was with a doctor who moved here from Canada. I should have asked where he was from but I suspect it was from the western part of the country because the accent was very similar to our plain featureless american accent. I suspect you live near the french part of the country and thus your accent is a mix of the two. Once I understood that, it was easer to separate out the components of your voice.

[Paige]

My  first full time job was with a doctor who moved here from Canada. I should have asked where he was from but I suspect it was from the western part of the country because the accent was very similar to our plain featureless american accent. I suspect you live near the french part of the country and thus your accent is a mix of the two. Once I understood that, it was easer to separate out the components of your voice.

Hey Dena,
It kind of amazes me you pick all that up.  I grew up in central Ontario,  there's probably some french influence but it would be subtle, there's not a lot of french spoken there.  I have lived in Ottawa for a few years and taken French off and on but I'm not bilingual.

Now I'm curious why the components of my voice would be affected by my accent.  Could you explain that a bit more.

Thanks so much for your help,
Paige

[Dena]

It really doesn't affect your voice but my ability to analyze it. I have spent a good deal of time with my therapist learning to listen for different issues in a voice and as such, I want to break each feature out separately. At first the accent was a distraction that prevented me from seeing the rest of the voice. Once I determine what the accent was, I could put it to the side and listen to the remainder of the voice. There is nothing wrong with an accent as everybody has one but when you are not used to listing to it, your ear may take time to adjust to it.

[Paige]

It really doesn't affect your voice but my ability to analyze it. I have spent a good deal of time with my therapist learning to listen for different issues in a voice and as such, I want to break each feature out separately. At first the accent was a distraction that prevented me from seeing the rest of the voice. Once I determine what the accent was, I could put it to the side and listen to the remainder of the voice. There is nothing wrong with an accent as everybody has one but when you are not used to listing to it, your ear may take time to adjust to it.

That makes sense.  Thanks for the help.
Paige

[BeckyCNJ]

A definite yes! Not only is the pitch excellent, but the vocal mannerism sound quite feminine. This is something I want to focus on. I would be very happy if I could reach this level.

[Lcleo]

Hello there
I managed to obtain this voice this morning: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1DW19PRf2ET
I'm still beginning my voice journey but for the first time I feel I've almost managed to eliminate chest resonance.
I'd like to know if this still sound male. If it sounds ambiguous it's still fine by me. I can't really tell for myself.
Anybody willing to share a honest opinion?

Thankies

[Paige]

A definite yes! Not only is the pitch excellent, but the vocal mannerism sound quite feminine. This is something I want to focus on. I would be very happy if I could reach this level.

Hi Becky,
If you're referring to me, thank you very much.
Paige

[Paige]

Hello there
I managed to obtain this voice this morning: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1DW19PRf2ET
I'm still beginning my voice journey but for the first time I feel I've almost managed to eliminate chest resonance.
I'd like to know if this still sound male. If it sounds ambiguous it's still fine by me. I can't really tell for myself.
Anybody willing to share a honest opinion?

Thankies

I thought your voice sounded quite feminine.
Paige

[Dena]

The pitch is good and while it sounds feminine, the voice is pretty flat lacking inflection. Even if you have to go a little lower in pitch so you have more range to work with, additional inflection would finish off the voice.

[Lcleo]

Thank you for you replies!
I'll try to add some inflection as you said, but I guess I have to get more comfortable with this voice first, as it was the first time I spoke like this.
I had my sister listen to it and she said it sounded feminine but a little bit artificial, perhaps that's what she meant.
I'll keep practicing, thank you all

edit:
If I understand correctly, adding inflection would mean putting emphasis on syllable by shifting the pitch right?

[Dena]

That's correct. If you listen to women carefully, their voice sounds somewhat like they are singing. They use a large pitch range and may change pitch several times in a single word. This comes naturally to them but it can be learned. Men sometimes do this with volume so you might attempt to use your volume changes as a guide to pitch changes.

[Ritana]

In my opinion, pitch is good, however, male resonance is still a tiny bit present;, and there's a lack of emotion in your speech (flat tone). If you manage to fix these then I think  your voice will pass flawlessly.

Good luck!

[Lcleo]

Thank you all for your help

I've got another question: I practiced this voice a little bit today again, and it made my throat hurt.
What does it mean? Will it get better over time or should I find a different technique altogether?
I've practiced for ~30 min four hours ago and I still feel a discomfort.

I got gendered right on the phone though, even after giving my male name to set an appointment. That's still encouraging.