How come voice feminization doesn't always work

[Pengola]

Hey ladies. Can i just ask, how come voice feminization works for some people but not others? I mean it seems some girls follow the instructions of the surgeon carefully but still it doesn't always work. I'm concerned about spending so much money and waiting months for recovery only to notice no change

[Dena]

No surgery is perfect and there are failures like over healing and improper healing. That said, those are relatively rare. I suspect many of the "failed surgeries" are the result of false expectations. You don't just pay the money and walk out with a feminine voice. The proper path is speech therapy to learn what you need and if you need it. Next come studying the surgeons to find the procedure you need followed by the surgery. After that, you may need additional speech therapy to learn the proper way to use the new voice.

In my case, even after surgery my chest voice is 130-140 HZ which is still in the male range. I need to use the head voice and when I do, I have a very comfortable 220 HZ voice extending to over 500 HZ. If somebody is unable to use the head voice and they had a starting voice like mine, they would consider the surgery to be a failure. I consider it to be a success because my pre surgical head voice was 130 HZ.

Voice surgery isn't a quick easy fix. It's a combination of speech therapy and surgery and when done correctly, can do amazing things. It's far from a solution for many and many can do just as well without the risk using only speech therapy.

[KayXo]

You don't just pay the money and walk out with a feminine voice.

This should be the case, IMO. As long as that is not the case, I don't plan on spending any money on feminization voice surgery. I'm hoping they will get there sooner than later, for all of us. There must be a way...

Surgeries today, IMO, are subpar (not anyone's fault, surgeons are trying their best) as far as voice feminization, in most cases and the risks can be quite significant + it costs a lot of money. I personally have a preference for Dr. Thomas but to each their own. Just my 2 cents.

[Miss Clara]

Voice quality (pitch, timbre, intonation) is affected by several factors, not just the length and thickness of the vocal chords which are the only things VFS alters.  The anatomical geometry of the airway from chest to mouth has a huge affect on voice resonance, and cannot be changed.  Finding your female voice is largely learning to compensate for these factors along with changing the way you speak.  If you think that VFS by itself will give you a female voice, you're probably going to be disappointed.  There are men with higher pitched voices who are not mistaken for women.  Pitch is not everything.  You'll still need voice training.  I say do the voice training first for a year, you may find that you don't need the surgery.

[Jailyn]

Unfortunately for us mtf's there is no easy way to a voice unless you start hormones early! Otherwise testosterone f***s up your vocal cords to put the way that it happens. So really the best way to get that voice is head voice or opting for surgery for getting it closer. Practice, practice, practice is what it takes.

[kwala]

Hey ladies. Can i just ask, how come voice feminization works for some people but not others? I mean it seems some girls follow the instructions of the surgeon carefully but still it doesn't always work. I'm concerned about spending so much money and waiting months for recovery only to notice no change

Just to be clear, no change is NOT the worst that can happen. If your surgeon makes errors or other things go wrong it can end up permanently damaging your voice. It's a big risk and I agree with Clara Kay that you should exhaust all non surgical methods (professional voice training and training/experimenting on your own) before deciding to go through with surgery.  Just a bit of advice from someone whose voice surgery was badly botched in 2015.

[Michelle_P]

VFS alters the pitch of the voice, but it does not alter the way that we use the voice.  Intonation and prosody are a huge part of the female voice.

Just a few of the differences off the top of my head:

• Men seem to stop exhaling between many words in a sentence, while women exhale at a steadier rate.
• Men dip the pitch of the last syllable in many longer words within each sentence, while women hold the pitch constant, or even raise the pitch at the end of the sentence and some longer words (think Valley Girl).
• Women use more of a 'head voice' resonating with the structures in the head and upper throat, while men use a chest voice, resonating with the chest and lower throat. I could actually feel the shift in where the vibrations came from between the two voices.

There are dozens of these subtle differences, which really surprised me.

[Rachel]

I had voice surgery last week after 9 months of speech therapy. I had a checkup today and will need the 6 weeks of recovery with greatly reduced vocal use and when I speak with low power.

The surgery I had eliminated my low pitch and raises my pitch a bit. I believe the timber will be shallower.  I had a normal pitch before surgery of 130ish. My lowest now is 150. I am not allowed to use my higher pitch yet. It puts strain on the cartledges that are fusing.

If my cricoid or thyroid cartledges ossified I could no have the surgery. I would have a choice of glottoplasty or cta. So oscification is one reason for failure or high pitch or full power talking or yelling can cause failure during healing. Poor fusing of the cartledges is a reason. Damage of the cartledges during the operation is a reason too.

One of the things not told to me is that swallowing feels different now. It may be swelling causing it.

I am hoping to raise my timber and pitch so I do not need to strain to produce my head voice. I think that is a reasonable expectation more would be icing.