Yeson voice feminization surgery

[anjaq]

Hi, Jenny.

I wish you all the best for the new year and the surgeries you will go for right at the start of that new year - I need to bookmark your videos, just in case my condition should get better enough to give good prospects for VFS but not good enough results to go without VFS. Its kind of funny - the report from the ENT said, that my vocal chords are having the best vibrational pattern at 200 Hz. Weird, huh? I thought going deeper would make it better if the problems come from speaking to high pitched.

Thank you for your blessing, Amy And I too hope that it times out well for you in April, I am ecstatic anytime I hear that someone is going to have this surgery. The joy that it has brought me gives me a sense of compersion to know that others will be much happier with their own voices too.

You always sound so enthusiastic, it is really infectious (do you say that?) - it makes me excited as well. I will be looking forward to Amys experience resports

Thank you for saying that you think I don't need it, my hope is that from the front of my face it won't change a thing [...]it's really only my side profile that you can see why I'm going through with it- or if I am sitting directly underneath a very strong overhead light.

Its funny, I saw that ticker with half an eye once and for some reason thought you already had FFS - LOL - so I guess I also would not have thought you need it. But I totally get that overhead light issue - I have this as well. I hate elevators and such...

Greetings

[AmyBerlin]

Dear Jenny, Anja,

The joy that it has brought me gives me a sense of compersion to know that others will be much happier with their own voices too.

That's what I'm hoping for, too – to substitute the constant struggle with my voice in making it do what it was never designed to do with simple, peaceful joy and contentment.

The only thing I really have a concern about on my face is my brow bossing, which is only visible from the side.

That was my FFS motivation too. The only procedure I added was a chin advance (I used to have a receding chin). And it eased my mind so much. Now I feel so happy and at home when I look at my reflection in a mirror or shop window.

Although I was fully aware of my trans status by age 4, back then it was impossible to procure treatment before reaching the age of maturity. And so I had to watch my body go to shambles before being allowed to do anything about it. And then it felt like I got handed a puzzle with 1000+ pieces and had to put it back together. I've mostly succeeded, and most people would say, also voice-wise, but they don't know the constant effort it takes to operate this instrument. I always say "I'm trying to play oboe concertos on a bassoon". That pretty much nails it.

I will be looking forward to Amys experience resports

I will open a new thread as soon as the date is confirmed. Up until then, I'll get in shape as good as possible, with daily trips to the gym, no more partying and hanging out at night, so the postoperative austerity won't be as much of a shock.

G'nite y'all,

Amy

[AmyBerlin]

Hi all,

now I know a few more things about the history of glottoplasty or VFS-AAC:

Apparently, Gross et al. presented his technique at the Voice Foundation's 25th annual symposium in 1996:

http://ncvs.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/The-Voice-Foundations-25th-Annual-Symposium-1996.pdf, page 12 (June 9, 9:45am).

Kim presented his at the very same symposium (its 36th edition) in 2007 (couldn't find the program on the web, sadly).

http://yesonvc.net/en/introduce/researchView.asp?idx=25

It would be odd indeed if no participant (or even the committee in charge of the symposium) had noted the similarity of the two approaches, wouldn't it? OTOH, they're 11 years apart, and transgender issues are probably not the most important thing on their minds.

Regards,

Amy

[abbyt89]

Hey guys! I'm so sorry it's been literally forever since I've updated you guys but here it goes:

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0vDBHVmLylT

[Shantel]

Hey guys! I'm so sorry it's been literally forever since I've updated you guys but here it goes:

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0vDBHVmLylT

Actually it has gotten even better than it was on your last update Abby. You sound great, look beautiful and seem good to go lady! So now what's next on the agenda for you?

[LizMarie]

You sound great to me, Abby! And I think you hit on the critical thing - you no longer have to even think about your voice.

[megan2929]

So I know I don't post much, but count me in as another future Yeson client. I'm reserved for Feb. 25th and now just need to troll through all these posts to see which hotel some other ladies were mentioning. I don't mind my current voice and it passes in daily life, but like Abby, I want to not even have to think about it, and to have a naturally higher pitch that is unambiguously female in all situations. I'm getting really excited about this!

[Jennygirl]

So I know I don't post much, but count me in as another future Yeson client. I'm reserved for Feb. 25th and now just need to troll through all these posts to see which hotel some other ladies were mentioning. I don't mind my current voice and it passes in daily life, but like Abby, I want to not even have to think about it, and to have a naturally higher pitch that is unambiguously female in all situations. I'm getting really excited about this!

Congrats Megan!!

I stayed at Hotel Prince Seoul, but I think Abby and Sarah both had better accommodations that were closer to Yeson.

[AmyBerlin]

Hi Megan,

I'm reserved for Feb. 25th

Congratulations! Saskia and me are going 2 months later. I'm very happy for you and so looking forward to it myself!

Jenny, Abby, and Sarah on this forum have done a great job documenting their results. Given the bad rep voice surgery still has, this has already worked wonders in reassuring people that the Yeson procedure is a different and much more viable option. Maybe you'd consider documenting yours too?

As for me, I've recorded some pre-op clips, that's all I can do for now. Posting them, without the ability to compare them with postop results, doesn't make sense. And postop recordings will have to wait until it's done :-)

Regards,

Amy

[anjaq]

Thanks for the update, Abby - Good to hear that you are doing well and that it is effortless for you to speak with this good voice of yours now - really great. Sadly at least for me the recording is not that great - I guess either my headphones at work here are not that good or the microphone you used was not good, but the recording seems to have a bit of a low sound quality :\ . But thanks anyways, cool to hear that you settled in so well

Megan, I totally support what Amy was saying. it would be awesome if you could also document your experience and also add some audio clips. Maybe Amy can tell you of the different recordings she made, she is so great at figuring out how to make this really sciency almost - if not, even just a bit of a pre/post comparison would be already helping tons and really appreciated. I know if I should do this surgery at some time, I definitely would post recordings (but no video, I am too paranoid on that ). Hope you consider it...
And have a safe trip and great experience and result there - February is not far away now...  

Greetings

[megan2929]

I stayed at Hotel Prince Seoul, but I think Abby and Sarah both had better accommodations that were closer to Yeson.

Jenny, did you like Myeongdong? I'm thinking of staying in that area as well for the shopping and free makeup samples! I figure it's not too hard to get over to Yeson 3 times by subway or taxi.

[Shantel]

Megan,
      Will you be doing before and after voice comparisons here? So far it's been so inspiring listening to the other women's great vocal changes.

[megan2929]

Megan,
      Will you be doing before and after voice comparisons here? So far it's been so inspiring listening to the other women's great vocal changes.

Yes I'll definitely try.

[Jennygirl]

Jenny, did you like Myeongdong? I'm thinking of staying in that area as well for the shopping and free makeup samples! I figure it's not too hard to get over to Yeson 3 times by subway or taxi.

Yeah I definitely did like it a lot, but I could only handle that shopping arena about twice. It's pretty overwhelming! Tons of great food though, too.

And yeah, I just took a taxi every time I went to Yeson. They are sooooo cheap in Seoul.

[alexiakk]

Hey guys!

I'm new to here but I've been viewing this post for a long time

In fact, I just went to Yeson (and I'm still in Seoul!) for this VFS and I'm gonna share a different experience in Yeson 

I think I went through all that "a" "e" "i" "o" "u" things and "low note" "high note" as most of you did and then I read a passage.

After the examinations, Dr. Kim told me, "Your vocal folds are already in female length and female shape, even on the smaller side of the average" and then he dismissed me without letting me do this surgery for the reason that "If I perform this surgery for you, it will just be a very artificial odd "male voice" speaking in 230-ish Hz if you don't learn how to speak like a female(!!), and after you learn, both your male and female voices will sound artificially too high" 

He also told me, when I attempted to hit soprano C when he made me do a falsetto, I'm using female mechanism instead of male falsetto.

I was so surprised and happy, but also sad with "why I still sound like a dude with a gifted female cords", and I tried to persuade myself by: "Michael Maniaci is a natural male soprano, and he still speaks like a male" 

So this trip I'm left with infinitely many curiosities.

To those of you who actually went over this surgery, did you learn minimally any kind of vocal technique or voice therapy to make your voice sound female? I never tried... and my speaking is always very deep-chesty-heavy (aka you can feel your breast vibrating really hard when speaking).

[Jamie D]

Wow, Alexia!  That is sort of mind-boggling.

Do you want to post a audio file?

Oh!  And welcome to you.

[alexiakk]

Wow, Alexia!  That is sort of mind-boggling.

Do you want to post a audio file?

Oh!  And welcome to you.

Probably not now XD

I hate leaving recording of my masculine voices 

So my issue now is: if it's already in female standard, what factors prevent it from sounding feminine 

[Lena from Kiev]

did you learn minimally any kind of vocal technique or voice therapy to make your voice sound female? I never tried... and my speaking is always very deep-chesty-heavy (aka you can feel your breast vibrating really hard when speaking).

Then try: http://lena.kiev.ua/voice

[alexiakk]

Then try: http://lena.kiev.ua/voice

Thanks Lena!

Personally I can tell that my deep-chesty-heavy voice is not really that deep voice of usual males, even those light tenors lol. I can say C5 to Eb5 is totally sustainable for me, but beyond that it becomes more like screaming - as I don't know how to use my middle voice and head voice correctly.

In fact I can sing most of Christina Aguilera songs with bad belting technique, bad quality as I've never learnt how to do them correctly (i.e. F5-G5-G#5)

One thing I really hate is to be classified as a tenor because of gender. This sucks, and I hate the word tenor for no reason  Doesn't "soprano" sound way better?

[AmyBerlin]

Dear Alexia,

this is quite a story you're posting here.

After the examinations, Dr. Kim told me, "Your vocal folds are already in female length and female shape, even on the smaller side of the average" and then he dismissed me without letting me do this surgery for the reason that "If I perform this surgery for you, it will just be a very artificial odd "male voice" speaking in 230-ish Hz if you don't learn how to speak like a female(!!), and after you learn, both your male and female voices will sound artificially too high" 

Well, then it seems to be that pitch is not your problem, but resonance. And that's not the good doctor's fault.

He also told me, when I attempted to hit soprano C when he made me do a falsetto, I'm using female mechanism instead of male falsetto.

Can you put this in context: what is soprano C for you? The soprano range has 3 Cs:

• middle C on the piano, aka C4 (that's the one everybody can sing, regardless of voice type),
• the one an octave above, C5, just over midway in treble clef (that's "tenor high C"),
• and C6 above treble clef, soprano high C (Queen of the Night is a perfect fourth above that still).

Can you tell us which one you're referring to as "soprano C"? Soprano high C is usually out of range for testosterone-modified vocal cords, although my friend Martin – quite a tenor –, who died in 2002, was able to hit it with lots of force.

So in essence, can you provide us with your range? Lowest and highest pitch you can comfortably hit, plus F0 (speaking pitch average). Dr. Kim should have given you a printout with all this information on it.

The lowest pitch you can comfortably hit is usually the best clue for voice type.

Regards,

Amy