CTA surgery and voice break

[anjaq]

Hi

Both speech therapists I asked about this told me the same story and I would like to know whats to it. They said that in a noremal voice there is a lower (chest) and a higher (head) voice. There are some other registers, but thats the two main ones. What they said is that if you start at your lows, the vocalis muscle will determine pitch and tightens up to increase pitch. When you reach that voice break, the vocalis muscle cannot pull anymore, so the CT-muscle takes over, pulling the vocal chords even further into the length which then is the pitch control in the head voice. Since both muscles have to "hand over control" at the break point, that passage is diffucult in untrained voices.

So question one is: Is this correct, do others tell the same?

Now if one does the CTA surgery, it means the CT-muscle is basically turned off and put with wires into a position as if it would be totally tightened, thus putting tension on the vocal folds. This leaves only the vocalis muscle to determine pitch. Theoretically this would mean several things: a) the voice break would be gone or at least shifted in one direction or the other, b) the head voice would be less accessible, making singing very hard and c) the upper pitch range would be cut down.

So question two is - are some of these possible results real?

Thank you

[Dena]

In reading over what Dr Haben has written, I didn't want the triple for two reasons. First the chest voice would not be usable and I would like to at least play with it as a singing voice. Second the triple isn't recommended for people who do want to sing. While I stopped singing when my voice broke, I have been playing around with my current voice enough that I would try singing after I have my speaking voice down. If you would like to see the advantages and disadvantages of each surgery, you can look at the web page for it http://www.professionalvoice.org/feminization.aspx.
I think my chest voice will be moved into the mid range of my falsetto voice and I am interested in finding out what it sounds like. I am not placing a tremendous amount of hope in singing as my voice/ear may still not be suited to the task. If so, I will be happy singing only to myself. For me it's more a matter of keeping as many of my options only and with the triple, if I don't need it, I don't want it.

[kwala]

Hi

Both speech therapists I asked about this told me the same story and I would like to know whats to it. They said that in a noremal voice there is a lower (chest) and a higher (head) voice. There are some other registers, but thats the two main ones. What they said is that if you start at your lows, the vocalis muscle will determine pitch and tightens up to increase pitch. When you reach that voice break, the vocalis muscle cannot pull anymore, so the CT-muscle takes over, pulling the vocal chords even further into the length which then is the pitch control in the head voice. Since both muscles have to "hand over control" at the break point, that passage is diffucult in untrained voices.

So question one is: Is this correct, do others tell the same?

Now if one does the CTA surgery, it means the CT-muscle is basically turned off and put with wires into a position as if it would be totally tightened, thus putting tension on the vocal folds. This leaves only the vocalis muscle to determine pitch. Theoretically this would mean several things: a) the voice break would be gone or at least shifted in one direction or the other, b) the head voice would be less accessible, making singing very hard and c) the upper pitch range would be cut down.

So question two is - are some of these possible results real?

Thank you

Okay, so I'm certainly not a surgeon so someone else feel free to jump in and correct me, but I actually have a completely different understanding when it comes to a CTA.  With the CT muscles contracted, I believe rather than shut head voice "off" it does the opposite, because with the CT muscles permanently stretched and flexed it's like having your head voice permanently turned "on."  I think this is why, in the past, so many patients who underwent a CTA sounded breathy and hooty.  I think Dr. Haben is really on to something by combining it with a glottoplasty because this makes your upper chest register easier to access which then blends with your head voice and creates more of a mixed or blended sound.

As far as the break goes, Dr. Haben says that the break is unaffected by a glottoplasty alone (I have no idea why this is physiologically) but I am very curious to know if anyone who has worked with Dr. Kim knows what he says about this.  In any case, if the higher notes near your break are more comfortable then you should, in theory, at the very least have an easier time learning to transition to and from chest to head with greater ease than before.

I didn't get into specifics because I wasn't considering the triple, but Dr. Haben did say that the break area is affected when patients undergo both the glottoplasty and the CTA.  Perhaps this is due to head voice already being active even in the notes below the break which makes the break less noticeable.

This is all conjecture based on my own voice training, singing, and a few emails with Dr. Haben so please don;t consider it any sort of expert opinion