Passing 100%...but my voice is still feminine :(

[oxfordshire]

Hello, everyone. I've read threads here before but finally decided to post today. I'm concerned about and annoyed with my voice.

I've been on Testim gel for a year and 5 months now. Physically, I started passing 100% of the time around the one year mark, but my voice... It's a little bit deeper than it was pre-T but honestly not much.

If I'm talking to someone in person, despite my voice sounding feminine, they will always read me as a guy nowadays. So it's not like my voice is hindering me from living my life as a male.

But it still bothers me a lot because I don't like the sound of it, it doesn't match with my appearance and my inner self. One of the things I was most excited about when starting T was finally getting to have the masculine voice I've always longed for.

It's really disappointing, and I'm starting to wonder if my voice will never change significantly. I do some vocal exercises, and I can make my voice sound masculine and deep when I try. But it feels awkward and fake to be trying all the time, and I wish that my vocal chords would just thicken like they're supposed to, so I don't have to put a conscious effort into sounding male every time I open my mouth.

Any advice?

[Julia1996]

Hi I'm Julia. Welcome to the forum. Maybe you could look for some voice exercises on YouTube that would help. I know MtFs use voice exercises to make their voices more feminine so surely that must work in reverse. But thankfully for you, if you look like a guy you can get away with having a higher voice. But a MtF will get outed quickly if she has a masculine voice.  I don't know if you would want to go to the extreme but you could have vocal cord surgery. It's done on MtFs so surely they can do it for FtM people.

[Elis]

You might just be a late bloomer as it were. The voice can still deepen up to 3 years on Tso I'd give just give it some more time. You might just be a guy who has a naturally higher voice too.

[Kylo]

It took over 8 months for my voice to properly drop. At 5 months it was still not very low and I wasn't being gendered male on the phone. At a year on T it has stabilized and dropped significantly. Always gendered male now with it.

You may just have to wait.

[Dena]

Welcome to Susan's Place. While testosterone lowers the voice, there is much more to it. MTFs learn how to use the head voice and for many of us, it's sufficient to produce a passable feminine voice. The reverse is sometimes true for a FTM. You need to use the chest voice where you relax the muscles between your larynx and jaw. You can feel these muscles as they are the same ones you use when you swallow. The other issue is you need to use less range and use a more monotone voice. I have worked with a few FTMs on this but a speech therapist could also help you with this.

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[Jessica]

You might just be a late bloomer as it were. The voice can still deepen up to 3 years on Tso I'd give just give it some more time. You might just be a guy who has a naturally higher voice too.

Think Mike Tyson

[1234]

Well, I am on T for more than 2 years now and my voice is still feminine (deeper, but feminine or a little bit androgyne).
It makes me sad because I wanted so much a voice change but think about you: just 5 months on T: there's a lot of time to your voice change. Don't worry. Mine experience: I still hoping for a bigger change in my voice. Let's be hopeful.

[1234]

Yeah, It's really disappointing;
I am passing 85% but my voice sounds like an old lady, not like a guy.

[SeptagonScars]

I did voice training as well, and it did sound fake in the beginning and for several months for me as well, but now years later I've gotten so used to it it feels natural for me. I rarely ever think about it and don't need to try anymore, as my voice sounds the way I want for it without me trying. Granted my voice did drop quite a bit just from taking T, but I still wanted it deeper and for the tone/speech pattern to sound more typically masculine, so that's why I did I my voice training. And I'm really glad I did, cause I really like my voice now. If you manage to continue practicing, it will become less awkward as you get used to it over time.
Since you've been on T for almost 1,5 year, I don't think it's impossible your voice could deepen more later on, but to just hope for that might disappoint you if it doesn't happen. So I wouldn't give up on the voice training if I were you, even though I get that it has its issues too.