Voice changes on testosterone

[objectionyourhonour]

Sooo, I'm hoping to start T soon and I'm mega excited for all the changes. I just want to know how much of an effect it's likely to have on my voice. I have quite a high voice naturally and a good singing range. I'd love to sound more masculine but I don't really want to lose my falsetto/higher end. Is this likely to happen or will I just get a better low range and a lower natural mid-tone? Kind of confused because I've heard people say both. Does anyone here have experience with this kind of thing? Thanks!

[Dena]

I moved the thread to testosterone where you will get more responses. When it comes to testosterone, all bets are off. Males are the best example of this. Some males have voices that are bass around 80-100HZ and others can be in the 150-160hz range. Often the voice will work across two or more octaves if properly trained but most males have a difficult time hitting some of the notes a woman can reach. Every once in a while things can really go wrong. My male voice was Bass around 90Hz and even with the use of a head voice I could only reach 190Hz which would be the very bottom of the feminine range. Voice surgery pushed my head voice to a comfortable 210HZ and gave me some but not all the range a woman would normally have. My head voice tops out at 500Hz which isn't bad but I am not going to get in a pitch battle with a CIS woman.

In short, I suspect you will lose some of the high notes as you gain low notes but I am not sure as some male can span a 4 octave range.

[FtMitch]

I am guessing you will lose your high range.  I know nothing about music, but I went from a high soprano to not being able to sing along with most pop songs on the radio!  I have ZERO technical knowledge about music, but it still surprises me when I can't even raise my voice to the high level I used to use to call my dog inside, which is not nearly as high as I could sing.  So no clue how low it'll drop, but I wouldn't count on being able to sing particularly high.  At least that was my personal experience but, like I said, I know nothing about music.

[Dena]

I had a thought of a better way to explain this to you. If you look at this site. You are currently a violin and testosterone will change the dimensions of your larynx causing your vocal cords to lengthen and thicken turning your voice into another instrument. Which one you will become will depend on genetics. We have at least one girl on this site who went through normal male puberty and her voice never changed. I can't tell you exactly what will happen but expect changes because the odds are they will happen.

[objectionyourhonour]

Thanks for the replies, they were really helpful. Most of the men in my family are wide-range tenors so I'm guessing that genetically I might end up somewhere around there. Do you think I would still be able to get a cis-male type falsetto with training though?

[RaptorChops]

my best friend makes music and has been on T for over 2 years now (probably going on 3 soon). His voice has dropped but not a great deal. People still mistake him as female (*shrug* he has a mustache) because his voice is still cracking and not very deep. He can't sing as high as he used to. He was able to impersonate the higher ranges like Mariah Carey and now he can't do it. His voice just cracks out but sometimes he can get it in there. It's just different for a lot of people, mine has definitely dropped a lot and my voice was terribly girly and horrid sounding.

The other thing too is my friend considers himself still slightly feminine and as for me I'm not feminine whatsoever. I think it depends too on how you feel and how you want to present yourself.

[AnxietyDisord3r]

Thanks for the replies, they were really helpful. Most of the men in my family are wide-range tenors so I'm guessing that genetically I might end up somewhere around there. Do you think I would still be able to get a cis-male type falsetto with training though?

You might need to work with a vocal coach but there is no reason you wouldn't be able to sing falsetto.

My experience was losing vocal volume on the high end (struggle to regain it on the low end too, but my voice is MUCH lower than it was before, so I'm pleased). Using your voice by singing probably helps preserve your range. A vocal coach who works with adolescent males could probably help guide you through the cracking (or guide around it, really).

[AnxietyDisord3r]

I taught myself to whistle so I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

[objectionyourhonour]

Cool, I still can't whistle, never could!