Yeson voice feminization surgery

[divineintervention]

curious to know: Can you talk for hours with the new voice at 2 month post op?

[lovelyjmi]

Lol .... can I ever....

[anjaq]

If you have kids and a dog and other stuff going around, Kate, please make 100% sure that you have someone who really helps you. A friend of mine did not. She ran into a situation less than 2 weeks post op (not at Yeson but with a very similar technique) where the dog-and-kids situation escalated and she had to shout at them. This was the worst case scenario with the expected bad consequences. So really - make sour your SO or family can support you and take care of kids etc. Maybe get a whistle for emergencies - I dunno, but that voice rest in the first 2 weeks is very crucial, I think whispering or saying some words in the first month may be not so good but not doing too much damage, but shouting can be really bad.

[ImagineKate]

If you have kids and a dog and other stuff going around, Kate, please make 100% sure that you have someone who really helps you. A friend of mine did not. She ran into a situation less than 2 weeks post op (not at Yeson but with a very similar technique) where the dog-and-kids situation escalated and she had to shout at them. This was the worst case scenario with the expected bad consequences. So really - make sour your SO or family can support you and take care of kids etc. Maybe get a whistle for emergencies - I dunno, but that voice rest in the first 2 weeks is very crucial, I think whispering or saying some words in the first month may be not so good but not doing too much damage, but shouting can be really bad.

Yeah I do plan on that... however it's natural. My son is SO bad sometimes. I wonder how I keep my sanity.

And the worst part is that my wife often just gives up and looks at me because the kids mostly listen to me, not her. I am the voice of authority in the house as I lay down the law. Going to be extremely hard. But I am determined to not let anything stop me.

[anjaq]

Thats what I meant - make sure beforehand that your kids understand this and that you S.O. has the authority for that time at least. Also that you are not left to be the only person who has authority in the room. I know its not easy, but you can make the arrangements beforehand now - if your son is misbehaving and your S.O. somtimes gives up on that, its even more important. It just is for 2-4 weeks, but especially in the beginning I believe it is really important. I know some people take a whistle and use that as an attention getter and "stop signal" in bad situations in that time.

[divineintervention]

Wish someone / would be grateful if someone could post a video of them singing with new voice!

I am getting my Yeson surgery next year and I am just excited to sing with a new voice! (I can never reach Ariana Grande notes now)

[AmyBerlin]

Dear divineintervention,

Wish someone / would be grateful if someone could post a video of them singing with new voice!

I am getting my Yeson surgery next year and I am just excited to sing with a new voice! (I can never reach Ariana Grande notes now)

I'm a professional musician (mostly piano/guitar) and had the Yeson surgery 8 months ago. My preconditions were far from ideal in that I had (for somebody who'd gone through male puberty) extremely short (about the size of an alto's), but thick vocal cords. I was a baritone before, with about Eb2-F4 chest voice, F4-C5 falsetto, C5-G#5 whistle.

Because of the shortened vocal cords, I have now about soprano vocal cord length, but due to the thickness, I have alto range. Chest voice starts from a C3, with full volume available from Eb3, that transitions smoothly into head voice at around G4. That's about the most important change: chest and head voice blend seamlessly now. If needed, I can belt chest voice up to B4. Head voice ends at around G5, and E5-G5 require sufficient support and quite some volume. I haven't been able to use whistle voice post-surgery (yet). Maybe I haven't found it yet, who knows.

I have been singing choir alto parts post-surgery no problem and am in the process of recording some of my own tunes. I can keep you posted on how that goes.

Regards,

Amy

[anjaq]

Neat - I noticed that you can reach the same upmost pitch now without whistle where before you needed whistle register - thats a nice gain - you did not loose anything in the upper range, but can use it differently now and maybe increase it if you manage to get whistle register again. I wonder what will happen to me. I can now go up to A#5, but I am not sure where whistle register starts since I am not a musician. I hope I can also keep that upper range or maybe even increase it with some exercises. If things go well, I think I may take singing lessons one day - it would be great to finally sing again. I lost the motivation when puberty hit

[AmyBerlin]

Hi Anja,

I can now go up to A#5, but I am not sure where whistle register starts since I am not a musician.

The transition into whistle happens around C5 +/- 2 semitones in a masculinized larynx, but doesn't feel like a "break". If you can sing notes significantly higher than that, you can be sure you have found whistle register. What happens physiologically is that the vocal cords "zip up" along part of their length from the commissure and only the rear part vibrates (much like the state post-VFS).

It may very well be that my current inability to whistle has to do with resistance from the vocal cords to "zip up" any further from the new commissure. They're already very short, and maybe a further shortening would make them so stiff they wouldn't vibrate at all.

it would be great to finally sing again. I lost the motivation when puberty hit

Thou speakest to our condition.

Amy

[anjaq]

Hmm - yes ok, I think whistle then may be the point where everything sounds like an "eee" - I am pretty sue I use that in the upper range - 930 Hz. My voice therapist is always fascinated that I can go there. If that would be the range without whistling post op, it would clearly be totally fine with me, I do not need the whistle then
Maybe I can do it because I used to inactivate part of my vocal chords for years and simulate a VFS in a way to get my female voice - sadly it was unhealthy to do that all the time.

[jettsetter]

Holy funk. My embarrassing Yeson interview is up now! Enjoy it yo!

Great video... You are a riot. Amazing voice. I'm envious. I never knew that a surgery existed before that could produce such a beautiful result. Thank you for sharing!

[lovelyjmi]

Hey thanks!! It's even better now!! In fact, Yeson posted my month 3!

[Zoe Snow]

I want to thank everyone for sharing so much about this procedure.  I just scheduled a date with Yeson for early May.  I never thought voice surgery was a viable option until I stumbled across this thread.  Can't wait for May to get here!

[barbie]

I want to thank everyone for sharing so much about this procedure.  I just scheduled a date with Yeson for early May.  I never thought voice surgery was a viable option until I stumbled across this thread.  Can't wait for May to get here!

Bring a nice mask to protect your throat from the episodic storms of yellow dust from China. Or, you can purchase one in Seoul. May is a nice season to visit Seoul.

barbie~~

[Jessie_tran]

The crazy thing is, Dr. Kim says my pitch should increase even further! I'm so stoked!

I have listened to all the samples at much high hertz but 218 seems to be the more natural sounding. At 265-270 it sounds very strained and much higher then the average female voice.  What are the rest of your opinions.

[anjaq]

Personally I would love to get to 200 Hz, maybe 220, but not higher. I think it would not fit me. So I think I will ask Dr Kim to be modest enough to get there. But since my original pitch is at 110-130 Hz, the normal average increase of 75 Hz would perfectly do it for me.

[ElizMarie]

Wow, J-Mi.  What a change.  It's amazing that your pitch ended up that high, but it's a good thing.  No one will ever mistake you for male again.

[ImagineKate]

Bring a nice mask to protect your throat from the episodic storms of yellow dust from China. Or, you can purchase one in Seoul. May is a nice season to visit Seoul.

barbie~~

How is it in Summer? That's when I'm shooting for.

[ImagineKate]

Personally I would love to get to 200 Hz, maybe 220, but not higher. I think it would not fit me. So I think I will ask Dr Kim to be modest enough to get there. But since my original pitch is at 110-130 Hz, the normal average increase of 75 Hz would perfectly do it for me.

I'm in the same boat more or less. Natural speaking voice is around 130Hz so 75Hz increase would put me nicely at 205Hz. With a little practice I can probably get up to "average female" range of 220Hz or maybe I can ask Dr Kim what he can do.

[Sunhawk]

I want to thank everyone for sharing so much about this procedure.  I just scheduled a date with Yeson for early May.  I never thought voice surgery was a viable option until I stumbled across this thread.  Can't wait for May to get here!

Me too. I'll be there the 2nd full week of May. I had to wait until the end of the semester. And it's going to be such a distraction during finals week.