Did your voice changed during HRT MtF?

[Felishia]

So people say the voice doesn't change, and from my personal experience, it REALLY changed, I started taking stuff since I was 16, and I say stuff because when I was -18 that I was unable to get treatment I'd just take anything that had estrogen.

But anyway, the thing is that as a matter of fact my voice changed with the years, I was extremely surprised and freaked out because I was told it was impossible, but yes it did, and I got no training at all.

Okay maybe the vocal chords didn't change, but does the voice really depend only on that? as a musician I know that even the littlest change can make a note sound higher or lower. Like when you get a flu and your voice lowers, you can even hear that people fluctuates their voice pitch during the day, with no effort at all.

Come on, there must be more people who got this to happen too.

[katiej]

Im glad to hear that you've done well with your voice.  It's not so easy for many of us...although it came fairly naturally to me compared to some.

As I understand it, the male voice is capable of a wider range of frequencies than the female voice. The vocal chords grow larger, making the lower notes and deeper resonance possible.  But the higher notes and lack of resonance are still possible with the male anatomy. It's just that most guys dont try to sound female.

IMO the biggest difference between identifiably male and female speech is actually the speech patterns and not necessarily just the pitch.  This is why some women have low voices but still sound very much like women.  And so if you transitioned in your teens, then you would have picked up these speech patterns naturally instead of having to figure them out later in life after decades of talking like a guy.

I know that HRT can sometimes affect the voice for MTFs, but yours is probably a combination of age and learning to talk like the girls around you in a natural way instead of later in life.

[ImagineKate]

I guess if you're young enough you can stave off a lot of the testosterone damage. However I seem to recall Dr Kim telling Jenny (she mentioned it in the Yeson thread) that estrogen thins your vocal cords so your pitch can get higher.

It's also funny you mention this because when i was signing informed consent paperwork, one of the effects listed that I had to agree to was my voice may raise in pitch. So I guess it does happen to some degree. I guess we will see as I progress further along if I see the same thing, but I'm older so it may not be as dramatic.

[SarahElizabeth]

I think the other thing to remember is that the human brain is very good at mimicking.  This comes into play once you truly believe that you are female and that is also once you totally accept yourself as female.  At that point I think the brain automatically begins reprogramming itself for speech.  This is the say way people loose and gain accents when moving to different regions.  That is just a thought though I have no proof of this but it makes sense to me.

[Dee Marshall]

... At that point I think the brain automatically begins reprogramming itself for speech.  This is the say way people loose and gain accents when moving to different regions.  That is just a thought though I have no proof of this but it makes sense to me.

I lose and gain accents in the middle of conversations. Maybe there's hope for me yet.

[Hideyoshi]

I sort of sound softer and refrain from projecting my voice a whole lot when I talk in guy mode, but it hasn't physically changed my vocal anatomy.

[warlockmaker]

Once I decided who I was I started paying attention to how females speak and their mannerisms and  became more observant and naturally there is a tendency to copycat the manner of speech - even if subconciously. The way I speak has changed and I do have two voices  that are distincly male or female.

[Jo-is-amazing]

E will change your voice.
But not in the way your hoping for.
Because of the way sound works, when you speak the sound echoes through your body, particularly in your torso and this creates a harmonic element of your voice. As your body changes physically on Hrt, the harmonic make up of your voice changes too. It doesn't alter your pitch but it does make your voice sound 'thinner'. Think what happens when you put a mute on a trumpet. The effect of Hrt is similar to that albeit less pronounced.

Does that make Sense?

[KittyKat]

I think one thing that happened for me more then hormones is I always had an androgynous voice and I could mimic voices before I even accepted I was transgendered. I've been getting called ma'am on the phone my whole life basically. After I began hormones the combination of the two made me mimic females around me more and more and I have to put forth an honest effort to prove I'm myself some times if its a legal matter where I need be a guy for 5 minutes. I go to doctor's appoints for my son with my wife and get asked if I'm her friend or sister.

[Sammy]

HRT definitely softened voice up - the records sound totally different than they used to (and I have to intentionally go a bit lower if I want to sound like guy). It did not however shut the chest voice down, I need to make a mental effort with that one, so in overall my voice does not pass just by itself. If I used my now everyday voice, I am still mostly being seen as a guy. But when I am around my kid, there is something which immediately changes in my voice (I am yet to figure out what.. but there is a subtle difference how adults speak to children) and I get gendered female even when wearing andro clothes (leaning male).

[Sammy]

Then apparently I am just speaking differently for dont-really-care what reason.

[Natalie]

Your voice does not change during HRT. This should be an axiom by now. It's simply not medically possible. Claiming it does defies known medicine and is a delusional belief about the self typically used as a validation of one's femininity due to insecurities. Furthermore, it's extremely hard to get a person having delusions to admit it because it seems so real to them. Is suspect you are suffering from a type of counterfactual overconfidence barrier where you are having more confidence in the accuracy of your own judgement than is reasonable and imaging an outcome that never actually happened. There is no empirical evidence that a male to female transsexual's voice changes during HRT or gets "softer." The endogenous change here is usually due to one "trying" to sound more feminine so they conclude that it was the "hormones" that changed their voice or they make up elaborate stories to justify their erroneous belief that it "changed." There is nothing positive about spreading misinformation. You are, however, free to believe in delusions just as much as the next person, but there is no need to make mendacious claims that do not exist in reality.

[Sammy]

Oh, wow. I have no idea what counterfactual overconfidence barrier is, but I did have imaginary friends when I was kid. Maybe those two issues are related.
Eh, nevermind then and try to have a good day.

[katrinaw]

Trying to type non gruffly, no HRT has not changed mine either 

L Katy

[Alysinspace]

youre not alone its happened to me too got put on estro at 19 c :

[Rya]

@Emily, best response ever. I can't tell you how great it is to see such a gracious response in a conversation that could have easily turned into a flame war.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Miss_Bungle1991]

Your voice does not change during HRT. This should be an axiom by now. It's simply not medically possible. Claiming it does defies known medicine and is a delusional belief about the self typically used as a validation of one's femininity due to insecurities. Furthermore, it's extremely hard to get a person having delusions to admit it because it seems so real to them. Is suspect you are suffering from a type of counterfactual overconfidence barrier where you are having more confidence in the accuracy of your own judgement than is reasonable and imaging an outcome that never actually happened. There is no empirical evidence that a male to female transsexual's voice changes during HRT or gets "softer." The endogenous change here is usually due to one "trying" to sound more feminine so they conclude that it was the "hormones" that changed their voice or they make up elaborate stories to justify their erroneous belief that it "changed." There is nothing positive about spreading misinformation. You are, however, free to believe in delusions just as much as the next person, but there is no need to make mendacious claims that do not exist in reality.

Exactly. If E actually changes your voice. Then that must mean that I AM an anthro squirrel. 

E will NOT have an effect of your voice. Some people enjoy lying to themselves to make them feel good. The ONLY thing that will change your voice is a LOT of serious work and practice. Anything else is a myth.

[Tori]

I think it is interesting to think the vocal chords can get thinner, but that is news to me if they do. Resonance may change a bit as the body reshapes, that is just how resonance works but the largest resonators stay the same so that effect is likely minimal.

Depending on where they live, most men talk in a lower pitch than their natural voice and most women talk in a higher pitch than their natural voice. I am sure many trans folk just stop using a lower or higher voice and find their neutral once they have allowed themselves to transition. Moving to a female register and melody can be a lot of work for a baritone or bass.

[jessical]

I don't know.  For me there was a subtle shift.  If I speak in my normal male voice all day, I lose my voice.  But nothing has happened that makes my voice more feminine.  It could just be that this topic has just not been researched enough by the scientific community.  But I don't think large shifts happen.

[Miss_Bungle1991]

Moving to a female register and melody can be a lot of work for a baritone or bass.

Indeed it is.

I was a baritone when I was in my 8th grade choir. It took a LONG time once I began my transition in my late 20's. It took me a few years to get my voice to where it is now. (This was also hampered by my tonsil infection that I went through a few years ago. Along with their subsequent removal.) But with a LOT of work, I got my voice to its present state.