Yeson voice feminization surgery

[lovelyjmi]

I won't likely be 100% stealth either but I'm hoping the voice at least gets me to "stealth" with strangers. I don't mind people who respect trans people knowing I am. However as I explained in my thread about training I may have to go into some extremely transphobic places and having a passable voice is a must.

Totally a given! I'm the same way! If it's people who show respect or are friends, I'm totally cool with it. I'm proud to be trans. I mean, we get to experience 2 different worlds, why not enjoy that to our advantage? Sure I hated being physically male, cause I'm not male, but the experience has shown me different ways to understand men as well. I understand some of their problems and struggles. BUT I would not give up what I've fought so hard for in a million years! Becoming myself has made me more confident and a better person ! <3

[seattlesarah]

Hiya!! While I'm certainly not 100% stealth, just because I'm kinda public eye due to my career choice, and that makes it hard to be stealth, I'm also very open minded about being trans only because I like to educate and help others in my position. SO with that said, I can guarantee, at least in my case, I've not been outed as male on the phone or in person ever since surgery ! Which makes me extremely happy!

Thanks for replying. I think your original voice fundamental was nowhere near as low as mine (104hz)? So I guess the question I have for you is, are you stuck at that pre-surgery unaltered pitch hz position initially, or can you still elevate it as soon as your voice comes back after that initial period of silence? 

I need to elevate mine at least 70Hz from it's original position to sound close to feminine. I'm just wondering if that's possible in the first 3-6 months. No amount of resonance suppression or other tonal quality would make a 104hz voice sound female, and it would just scare people to hear it coming out of me. It would be like I had been possessed!

Also, sorry, I didn't mean to only answer if you lived stealth, I just meant, IF you WERE majorly stealth, would it have outed you. Geez I really did not mean to put anyone in a mindset to think about stealth vs out or to state a position on that. We all live the way we find most comfortable and no one solution is right for everyone, and everyone can go through stages of living different ways, and that's ok. I just really do not want to NOT be stealth at this point in time, or for my partner to hear my old voice pitch level coming out of me.

I really appreciate you and the other girls in the thread who have shared your experiences, and also thank you to Jenny for starting the thread and making this procedure known to everyone.

[lovelyjmi]

Haha .. no you didn't put me on the spot! I just thought I'd explain my situation a little more as it could differ!

My initial voice was around 134-144 Hz (male voice) .. which is pretty high for a male voice, so as soon as I could speak, my voice was much higher, and believe me I can't go even close to my old voice anymore. HOWEVER, the botox helps with that, so I'm awaiting the dreaded month 4 when it wears off.

However, I've been doing voice acting/rapping/singing for a long time, and it's helped a lot with me sounding better, so my case might be a little different from yours. I also mentioned in one of my videos about learning the "Speaking from the neck" versus "Speaking from the chest" trick too. I'm just a fast learner. And I suppose when you really want something, you work for it quickly!

But as for am I stuck with the pre-Hz voice, not at all. They pretty much cut off all that low frequency so that it makes it impossible to "Accidentally" fall back into.

I think that's the best I can explain things, if you want to know anything else, post? <3 Haha ...!

[seattlesarah]

Awesome, that is so comforting to hear, thank you! My resonance on praat is up in the female range, about 3200hz on all the vowels except o (2834hz) so I am already trained in speaking from the throat (pretty sure this is what you mean), so it sounds like it will be ok.

Thanks for answering. Still waiting for a reply from the Yeson center. My emails have a habit of getting lost by companies. :/

[lovelyjmi]

Nah, I wouldn't worry! Jessie said they're packed with people atm, so it'd take them a little longer to get back to everyone ! <3

[seattlesarah]

My original email to Yeson ended up in their spam mail folder! A week later when I wrote again to see if they got my first email, it was found.

I have a booking for the 29th of January. I haven't sent my flight itinerary yet. I was expecting to be asked to do some voice recordings for them beforehand, but nothing about that was said, I just answered a questionnaire. Is that normal? It sounds like other people have sent recordings before going.

[ElleA]

Hey Seattle Sarah, I'm booked in for the 2nd of February so we will probably be there at the same time. I haven't been asked for anything but the itinerary yet. My thought is that they will wait until a lot closer to the date.

[anjaq]

I dont think they ask recordings of you, the first day there is packed with examinations from what others were telling, so all will be on that day. Some people like me were a bit super cauteous and sent in recordings and/or ENT examination results (endoscopic video, pitch range, jitter,...) beforehand in order to see if the surgery is possible (in my case that was a rather negative result the first time, so I had to give it a year - Jessie said, it would be worth fixing some other voice issues before doing the sirgery). But it is no need, if you are already booked, They can do everything needed on site.

[ImagineKate]

Typically how long on HRT are you before you go? I really ideally want to do this around when I go FT. Right now I am not on HRT yet (seeing the endo on mon) but my voice is KILLING me. I swear, people are afraid to gender me and I get "ma'amed" when I go out andro/femme but when they hear my voice I get a pretty rapid "sir" and that depresses me to no end. Yeah yeah I know I should be patient.

I was planning for 9mths to a year on HRT before I do any voice surgery. I will be doing voice training as well.

[anjaq]

I dont think the amount of HRT has anything to do with it at all! If anything then the amount of voice training you have done.

[Jessika]

I don't have the motivation for voice training. I will let Yeson do the work for me. After all, it's what I will be paying them for.

[ImagineKate]

I don't have the motivation for voice training. I will let Yeson do the work for me. After all, it's what I will be paying them for.

True to an extent but you still need to get rid of the other "male" characteristics of your voice that don't involve pitch. Things like prosody and resonance have to be worked on.

[ImagineKate]

HRT has no bearing upon these other than a  placebo effect

I know. I was replying to Jessika about her saying that Yeson will do all the work for her.

[seattlesarah]

Hey Seattle Sarah, I'm booked in for the 2nd of February so we will probably be there at the same time. I haven't been asked for anything but the itinerary yet. My thought is that they will wait until a lot closer to the date.

Thanks ElleA and Anjaq. It just seems too easy to get an appointment, especially after having to get letters from psychiatrists and having to make payment in advance for SRS! I almost feel like I'll get there and they'll say "who are you?"

ImagineKate: I don't think there are any HRT requirements etc, however if you are not presenting female when you go I imagine there'd be a bit of double-checking that you really wanted to do this. I should think after 9 months of HRT and voice training you'll be more than ready. They're probably not too worried about stopping anyone from doing the procedure because it is reversible if you wanted to change your mind later.

[ElleA]

Thanks ElleA and Anjaq. It just seems too easy to get an appointment, especially after having to get letters from psychiatrists and having to make payment in advance for SRS! I almost feel like I'll get there and they'll say "who are you"

I can only think this is because the procedure is completely reversible unlike SRS

[anjaq]

It is in some way reversible, but not completely. If reversed, there will be damage, but its more like growing boobs and then having them removed if it was not what felt right.

I know of at least 2 people who went there still presenting male because they had not enough HRT, wanted FFS and VFS to be done prior to presenting female and they also got their surgery. Its not trans related anyways - they also treat women with androphonia and with other surgeries there also treat singers who have voice damage.

[Rachelicious]

They're probably not too worried about stopping anyone from doing the procedure because it is reversible if you wanted to change your mind later.

While there's certainly room to get less change due to improper recovery care, it's really not reversible in any true sense of the word. It's like SRS - things are actually removed that can't be regrown or easily approximated back to the way they were, and you would be solidly healed before you would be able to have any kind of informed opinion about how your new voice sounds, anyway.

I really like how you all sound after yeson. I'm seriously considering. do you think I could be a potential candidate?
here's a voice clip of me...
https://soundcloud.com/shizuma7775/rainbow-frequency-shift

It's hard to say based off this: you're speaking in what I assume is your raised / feminine voice? Yeson is really interested in your "fundamental frequency" - essentially, speaking at a comfortably low pitch without forcing your voice lower. After surgery, that's the part of the voice you want to be able to use without sounding masculine.

[ImagineKate]

Thanks ElleA and Anjaq. It just seems too easy to get an appointment, especially after having to get letters from psychiatrists and having to make payment in advance for SRS! I almost feel like I'll get there and they'll say "who are you?"

ImagineKate: I don't think there are any HRT requirements etc, however if you are not presenting female when you go I imagine there'd be a bit of double-checking that you really wanted to do this. I should think after 9 months of HRT and voice training you'll be more than ready. They're probably not too worried about stopping anyone from doing the procedure because it is reversible if you wanted to change your mind later.

Oh I definitely will be presenting female. I mean, I do it now even without HRT, but I will be full time when I am ready to have my surgery.

[Alysinspace]

Ive been looking up yeson and videos ive seen everyone seems to have good results in fact i have a hard time finding someone who got bad results. but also everything i read says vfs has a very low success rate and is super risky. i dunno if itd be worth it. thoughts?

[Livvykins]

Hey lovelies!

Here's my month 5 update!  My voice is now averaging 250-260Hz when relaxed talking... YAY!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyPjRh36JtY&list=UUoVY86enVDAqxSscn5ro8Rw