Voice cracking

[nbnik]

I've been on T for almost exactly five months now, and my experience has been mostly positive. There have been some hangups, and there's definitely a learning curve. And I'm not gonna even lie about the side effects. But it's been worth it.

Within about four weeks, I noticed my voice was beginning to deepen noticeably. I went, aw, yeah, I'm on my way, check me out. And over time, it's deepened considerably more, which also makes me happy. When I'm by myself I sing sometimes to like, kind of explore my new range. I've never been good at singing, but I do like doing it sometimes now to feel out my progress.

But it does creak and crack a LOT. I expected this, to some degree, but my dad said his seemed to deepen all the way to where it is now overnight. He's really the only blood family I can ask, and my experience has not been that quick AT ALL.

So I'm just wondering other people who are taking T and their experiences as far as this croaking thing goes, how long it took, what their age was when they started T, etc. I imagine it can vary considerably, and I've heard changes are /sometimes/ easier to predict based on what happened with cis guys in your family. But as I said, I've only got one data point, so that's not really useful to me.

[cindianna_jones]

It is very common for teen boys' voices to crack like yours is doing. That's sort of where you are too. It is to be expected or at least not a surprise. You are experience positive changes. Good for you!

[Dena]

Teen male voice commonly break. It's a combination of the growth of the larynx and attempting to use the new voice like the old one. As the growth of the larynx ends, you will learn how to use your new voice and this will be a distance memory. Often teen boys go through a quite period where they don't talk much because of the change their voice is going through. That's why you may not have heard it much in others.

[nbnik]

Yeah, I'm not really surprised that it's cracking; it's a common phenomenon. I didn't really know what the underlying reasons were, so that's useful information, too.

But I guess what I wanted to know is how long this phase of things typically lasts. That is, how long do people's voices typically take to deepen fully and stop cracking? Months? Years? I don't know these sorts of things, so that's why I'm asking.

[Dena]

I am not sure how long it will take but a year or two should take care of most of it. The voice may deepen over a longer period but it will be slow and not noticeable.

[invisiblemonsters]

i think my voice finally stopped changing/cracking around the year mark? maybe sooner though. i wasn't paying attention because i was constantly passing within the 3 month mark because of my voice drop happening and it being a significant drop.

don't worry too much, all these things take time. even though your dad says his seemed to just drop over night, it doesn't exactly happen that way.

[FtMitch]

Mine has deepened without cracking, which is nice, but I taught high school for awhile, and I agree that pretty much all the teen boys I knew went through the voice cracking thing.  Probably most people don't even notice--I was so used to it that it just seemed like the norm when I talked to my male students.  Most of them started sometime in freshman year and their voices finished dropping usually sometime in senior year.  Sooner for the guys who developed more quickly--aka, the ones who looked like they were 30 by the time they were 17.  Since this isn't actually true puberty, I dunno that anyone can give you a surefire timeline, but I really wouldn't worry about it.  Like I said, pretty much anyone who has ever spent time around young men doesn't even notice it happening.

[nbnik]

Mine has deepened without cracking, which is nice, but I taught high school for awhile, and I agree that pretty much all the teen boys I knew went through the voice cracking thing.  Probably most people don't even notice--I was so used to it that it just seemed like the norm when I talked to my male students.  Most of them started sometime in freshman year and their voices finished dropping usually sometime in senior year.  Sooner for the guys who developed more quickly--aka, the ones who looked like they were 30 by the time they were 17.  Since this isn't actually true puberty, I dunno that anyone can give you a surefire timeline, but I really wouldn't worry about it.  Like I said, pretty much anyone who has ever spent time around young men doesn't even notice it happening.

You're probably right about most people not noticing. I think it's kinda like, since I'm so aware of the changes, I assume other people must notice as well.

I know that my family notice, but they've known me my whole life, and we live together, so that's part of why. Most of the time, I'll be talking smoothly, without a problem, and then all of a sudden, my voice breaks mid sentence. You know that sound effect thing that's basically a needle being jerked off a record player abruptly? That's what I think it's like.

It's kinda funny, actually, to me. But anyway, you're right, too, when you say it's not the usual puberty cis men go through. It's like that to some degree, but it's not the same. This is part of why it's disappointing to me that there isn't more published, rigorous research on transition and HRT, in either the case of using "feminizing" or "masculinizing" hormones. I mean to say that I'm disappointed but not surprised.

When we start to seek out hormones, as trans people, it seems like we're expected to be experts on our own individual conditions and the effects of hormones, but it's curious that this is an expectation people have of us when, at the same time, people who have gone to school for years and practiced medicine for ages on top of that, they're often incredibly ignorant when it comes to this.

I mean, I like my psydoc, and I tolerate my GP out of necessity (free clinic, no insurance, etc), and they seem competent medically. But I still have to hold both of their hands in terms of getting my T and everything that goes along with it. We're not exactly rare, transgender folks, but to talk to some of these people, you'd think we were like unicorns or other mythical creatures.

Sorry, I'm babbling, but this has just been my experience. I'm interested in learning about what people go through who are transitioning as well, because as I said, it's not as if I can ask my doctor or whatever. I guess that's why I keep asking questions on the forums here.