Post VFS Loudness Issues

[ShadowCharms]

Hi everyone,

I had voice surgery with Dr. Habin about three and a half months ago. I am very happy with the outcome. My voice quality is mostly okay, and my pitch has gone up. The only major downside that remains is that my voice is a lot quieter than it used to be. When I feel like I'm talking moderately loudly, people a few seats down from me on a fairly quiet patio can't hear me. When I need to speak to a small crowd (even people within 10 feet of me) they can barely hear me at all even if I yell. If I'm in a crowd of any sort, forget it. No one can hear me at all.

Is this something that may go away with time, or is this just how my voice will be from now on? I'm okay with it being quiet, but it would be nice if it was loud enough to be reasonably functional across a variety of situations. Has anyone who had this surgery noticed their voice getting louder again? Do I need to speak differently or something?

[Denjin]

I still have loudness issues, and am about the same amount of time post op.  I do think some of it will just need time, as the recent scope said I had incomplete glottal closure, which I'm sure can contribute to this.  However, a few times I have been very loud when not thinking about it at all (e.g. almost in a car accident so I was screaming lol), so I think we're probably speaking a bit wrong still.

The Yeson exercises I posted a while have that 'ing ahh' exercise, and you should try it.  I'm able to get very loud when doing that one, but it's hard to translate into general speech.

Hopefully some further along than us can comment.

[kwala]

I sincerely hope this issue goes away for both of you, but I can say for certain that this remains a huge issue for me (though, as I've made clear several times on this forum, my case was a disaster in every respect) but I am over 10 months post glottoplasty and people can't even hear me in my own home if I have the TV or radio on.  Lunarain, who posts here occasionally has also said that her voice is still too quiet in public places and she is well over a year post op.

[Dena]

First, I expected a slow recovery because of past experience. I found at 6-7 months I started regaining volume and at the one year mark I can carry on normal conversation at normal volume. If I attempt to push higher volume the voice isn't as stable and becomes rough. An additional factor to consider is I used a trained voice before and after surgery and the trained voice before surgery was volume limited as well. I have little need for high volume levels and if I am in a noisy environment I wait for the noise to stop or I move closer to the person I want to talk with.

[Ritana]

I am just over 6 months post op with yeson. Volume is not that much of an issue anymore. Pitch is fine too (220 hz). The only problem I have right now is voice control in terms of mastering some subtle tunes that come out of my mouth. This makes the voice not 100 % clear. Hopefully when complete healing has taken place and after a few speech therapy sessions, which I have just started)  this problem will resolve itself.

There are exercises (included in yeson's post op instructions) that help you gain power. Perseverance, regular practice and training are the key.


Ritana

[jollyjoy]

Kwala, I'm very sorry to hear that your voice is still not back, I really hope that you will eventually find a solution to fix your voice.

Shadowcharms, 3.5 months is very early in your recovery. I definitely had volume issues during that time. I'm now almost 10 months post-op, although my volume is not as loud as pre-surgery, it's much better than those earlier months of recovery. Like Dena, I think my voice could take over 1-2 years to fully recover.

[GeekGirl]

For me, it would be a tremendous blessing to have a quieter voice. All throughout my life, even if I would whisper, people from across a large room could still hear me. It was a curse to have my voice. When I would get mad, I would sound like the Devil was inside me. That I don't need anymore. Bring it on. It would be a blessing to have a voice many decibels quieter!

[GeekGirl]

I just thought about how crazy I must've sounded in my last response. Apologies. It was a wild day with my kids in my office (it's a take the kids to work week).

My point was volume loss may seem like a negative to some, but not for others. I hope you attain the volume you want. I would think it's just a time heals wounds kind of thing and you will recover more lost volume. What does Dr. Haben have to say about this?

[ShadowCharms]

I understood what you meant. I quite enjoy my new, mousey voice except when it is only barely functional. I really like how I come off as cuter now when I talk, and people tend to be more comfortable around me. I think before my voice did come off as louder and more aggressive to me.

I haven't asked Dr. Haben about this yet. I think I will email him, though.

[anjaq]

Volume can come back to a big part. It may not be as loud as in the pre transition voice (I do not remember how loud I could go there), but for me it is now even louder than in my trained pre OP voice. Thats after about 17 months now.
I think a big part is just healing, which takes a year, another very big part however is training and exercises to get used to properly using the new voice and to avoid hoarsness, breathiness and vocal fry, all of which reduce volume. I recommend doing a lot of exercises to strengthen the voice. Either the Yeson Exercises or maybe in addition some exercises you can find on youtube by professional singers and if its possible some SLT sessions (not trans related).

I lost some abilities to loud screams I had before and will see if I can find them now again in a new way - but volume when speaking is ok. It may be though that I have to use more power to get the same volume - which is why using abdominal breathing is more important post OP. I personally believe once the healing is complete and the breathiness is dealt with, the volume is the same as with other women. Many women need to learn to speak at a higher volume properly if they want to talk in front of an audience without microphone at a high volume and even for men it is not always a given.

[Katie]

Months for recovery!

It has been just over a year and I can still tell I am healing.

As far as the volume issue. That took months for me to be able to speaking real loud.