MTF Voice changes

[SforaNymph]

I am going to began hormones this month which I am super excited about. I was looking into voice surgery and have heard horrible things about it. I have also considered voice therapy which specializes in mtf transgender. There are also videos on YouTube talking about doing it yourself, which for me I find very difficult to do. I want to be able to pass as a female, and doing that is having a female voice. Can anybody help me, or shed some light onto this particular topic.

Thanks,
Sfora

[Dena]

I just gave you a little ride to the voice therapy and surgery section where you will be able to learn more. I needed both because my trained voice couldn't reach the needed pitch alone. Last summer I had surgery and combined with my trained voice I am now able to work the feminine range. You will learn that there are two surgeons people are using and both have a pretty good track record. The surgery has evolved enough that damage to the voice has been pretty well eliminated. Therapy will most likely be needed even if you have surgery because the feminine speech pattern is different that the male pattern and it helps to have somebody else evaluate your progress. Feel free to ask questions on this thread and if I don't respond quickly, I suspect somebody else will.

I went to Dr Haben, one of the two surgeons and his web site is the most informative of the two. Yeson uses a bit different procedure and only will do the VFS but the results are comparable. The link will take you to the site.
http://www.professionalvoice.org/feminization.aspx

[SforaNymph]

How much did it cost you for the surgery?

Sfora

[Dena]

About $7000 without the airfare. I didn't have CTA and spent two nights in the hotel and one in the hospital because I was by myself and the air trip toke an entire day.

[SforaNymph]

I did not think voice surgery would cost more than a nose job and cheek implants combined lol. How much was your speech therapy?

Sfora

[Dena]

Speech therapy is a very loaded question with me. My speech therapy was 35 years ago and I was attempting to make my old voice usable. I still remember all that I learned and use it to help other on the site so it's pretty simple applying it to my new voice.

Some of the people don't require therapy after surgery because their voice is naturally sing song but those with a flat voice need help with the feminine speech pattern.

Speech therapy is far cheaper than surgery and I would recommend some before surgery to determine if you need surgery. Many people have a passable voice without surgery but others like me have no other option.

[SforaNymph]

Yeah. I use to sing a lot long ago in school. I can sing and hit 500 hz.

Sfora

[Dena]

If you are game, DYI voice is possible for you without surgery or therapy. You have already had some training and I have some instruction. You may post voice samples on the site and other will help you evaluate them PRAAT is available for free in the stickies here. My voice capped out at about 190 HZ -  I told you it was bad but your voice should handle the feminine range well.

http://www.nyspeechandvoicelab.net/transgender/voice-feminization/

[SforaNymph]

Thanks I will have to look into that. My voice sounds like a very feminine gay guy. I just want to fully eliminate the masculine part of my voice. Thanks for you input and help.

Sfora

[audreelyn]

Thanks I will have to look into that. My voice sounds like a very feminine gay guy. I just want to fully eliminate the masculine part of my voice. Thanks for you input and help.

Sfora

If you have an impressive range you could probably just be very committed to training your voice. For me, my voice was so deep that no amount of training could eliminate the masculine depth to my voice. So, I would recommend you research more and listen to the different voice recordings that doctors have (like Haben in Rochester, or Kim in Korea) and see what might work for you.

Of course there is always the risk that the surgery can fail, and you receive no pitch increase. For me, so far the recovery process has been long and tiring, but after 3 months+ I'm finally able to start speaking with some hoarseness. The good news is that the masculine depth that I had, is pretty much gone.

Audree

[SforaNymph]

Thanks I am hiring a vocal couch who has done this sort of thing. My voice comes out on a frequency of F3 to G3 which is 176 to 196 hz in a feminine gay type of voice I been using since I was 17, which I am 25 now.

Thanks.