Speaking From Your Chest

[Simon]

Strange topic (maybe?) but curious if I'm alone on this. I feel like my voice isn't where it should be for a year on T. I never get misgendered on the phone but in person I have a tendency to 'lighten' my voice when talking to people I don't know. It's subconscious and annoying. I'm thinking it might have to do with being shy (believe it or not I am extremely shy in person, I'm working on it) but I can't get that deep 'boom' in my voice in public...I guess I'm more or less talking out of my throat or nose. Anyone else experience this after being on T awhile? Maybe it has something to do with getting used to this new voice, I don't know but it's frustrating. 

[Adam (birkin)]

I have the exact same issue, 21 months in. It annnoys me...not only is it not a habit to speak from the chest, I actually can't physically seem to do it.

[Arch]

When I'm more reliably employed, I hope to consult with a speech therapist or coach so that I can learn how to speak from lower down. I hate not having the same "boom" that even a cis tenor has.

[Kreuzfidel]

I don't really understand that whole concept - I hear a lot of trans* guys talking about "speaking from the chest", but I don't and I sound 100% male.  *shrug*  I don't honestly know if there's a lot of merit to it - I know that if you relax and don't try to hold your voice at your 'old' level then you will sound deeper naturally - but I don't know about projecting it from the chest.  That just sounds a bit like rubbish.  Cis guys often have more booming voices because of the size of the voice box, not because they're projecting it from their chest.

[Arch]

I don't really understand that whole concept - I hear a lot of trans* guys talking about "speaking from the chest", but I don't and I sound 100% male. 

I never said that I don't sound male--I am a baritone and had no trouble sounding male even when I was a tenor. But I don't project. Perhaps it's more noticeable because my job requires me to speak in front of a classroom. But I have also noticed that nearly all of the men in my gay group have the ability to project in ways that I just can't. (I don't know exactly how universal it is because some of them have never had occasion to demonstrate whether they can or can't.) One man is about eighty-five and has a very high tenor. When we ask him to speak up, he positively booms.

[Jack_M]

Could just be habit not to project from the chest.  I've found it happened very quickly for me.  I have quite a low voice now and I definitely feel it coming from my chest so it has that resonance.  But then again I've always done voice work for character voices and so on so maybe I just found it easier to adapt.  I can't explain it.  I would imagine with speech therapy it could help.

I also think confidence could have a lot to do with it and opportunities to use your voice.  Every week I'm yelling at kids during Taekwon-do.  Well, yelling at them to tell them what to do, not AT them; that'd make me mean Jack and not big brother Jack .  So perhaps because I've been doing this every week, including during the awful cracking period, it's helped me adapt.  Perhaps finding something to do where you have to project every now and again might help you find that voice?  Even yelling into a pillow at home would still work the same process.  Might be worth a try?!

[geek]

I too want a deeper voice, 22 months in? (i think!) or there abouts i feel i sound like a girl

[Simon]

I too want a deeper voice, 22 months in? (i think!) or there abouts i feel i sound like a girl

Some transguys sound like they're from the Lollipop Guild (think Loren Cameron). I'm glad I don't sound like that but I do get what you're saying about feeling like you sound female in your own head. I've felt that way myself at times but it's a combo of sounding different in our own heads and dysphoria. Did you record your voice as it was changing the first months on T? I know if I wouldn't have recorded at least the first 6 months I would have doubted any significant changes had taken place.

[Arch]

But then again I've always done voice work for character voices and so on so maybe I just found it easier to adapt. 

[. . .]

I also think confidence could have a lot to do with it and opportunities to use your voice. 

Sounds like you have your answer. If you've done voice work for a living (or even for fun), you may well have practiced "male" speaking habits without realizing it.

I have no trouble with confidence, nor do I lack opportunities to speak, even loudly. I'm talking about a learned habit, and I just haven't learned it. Because my voice is so male now, learning to project is waaay down my list of important things to do. I'll get around to it eventually, but I would rather consult with an expert than try to fix the problem on my own.

[geek]

Some transguys sound like they're from the Lollipop Guild (think Loren Cameron). I'm glad I don't sound like that but I do get what you're saying about feeling like you sound female in your own head. I've felt that way myself at times but it's a combo of sounding different in our own heads and dysphoria. Did you record your voice as it was changing the first months on T? I know if I wouldn't have recorded at least the first 6 months I would have doubted any significant changes had taken place.

haha yeah, to be fair i sound like morgan freeman now compared to when i first started! :p

[Adam (birkin)]

Lol so do I, my voice I had zero deepness pre-T, like there was no way to ever make it sound male. Now everyone, as far as I know, reads my voice as male on the phone and whatnot. But I still feel like I sound female, weirdly enough, and I'm glad you said you feel the same way geek. I was thinking I was just unusual and paranoid.