Susan's Place Transgender Resources

In my opinion i pass fairly well and have had 0 to no issues until i open my mouth and watch them do a double take. I have been reasearching varius programs and surgries online and think

i might have setteled on an answer. www.voicedoctor.net (http://www.voicedoctor.net) .Cricothyroid approximation sounds like a fairly safe and positive surgery. The price being $9600 is kinda high but i could swing

it. I was wanting to know if anyone has actually gone through or has any thoughts about this procedure. My male voice is deeper then Ving Rames so it is very difficult for me i can hold

a higher pitch without going into falsetto for less than 2 minutes. So i believe this is my only option. As i am fulltime and have SRS scheduled for July This is of paramount concern for me.

I was going to try to schedule the voice surgery for 2nd week of feburary becuase you have to wait 3 months before any other surguries are allowed.

There has been a 2 page exhaustive thread on this from last week
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,113436.0.html (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,113436.0.html)

My voice was extremely deep. I did voice lessons.

Voice lessons is a lot safer, a lot cheaper, and a lot safer (plus a lot safer).

Voice surgery isn't your only option. It takes months (more than three) of devoted practice. If you have surgery, you'll sound like a high pitched man. The falsetto is not the key for feminine voice. Its the intonation and reflection. Surgery doesn't touch that.

Going under the scalpel hoping for faster results will not help. Please read the link I provided.

matter of fact, ill post my old voice audio and my new one to show you how deep it really was.

my voice to show you that you can do it with voice practice and not surgery

http://www.mediafire.com/?opt84m77c1bpo2f (http://www.mediafire.com/?opt84m77c1bpo2f)

I seriously doubt this is your only option. If you're having that much trouble, I won't tell you that you'll be able to become a soprano or anything like that. However, I think it's a fair estimation to say 99%+ transitioners are at least able to pass with voice training.

Like I said in other threads, I'm not entirely against voice surgeries; however, only consider them absolutely necessary if and only if you've been to a speech therapist for quite a while with no results.

If voice therapy fails, you don't fall lower. If surgery does, you might be pretty much screwed. Plus, even IF surgery is an absolute requirement in your case, which is extremely unlikely but not impossible, you'll probably need therapy eventually to have a realistic voice anyway.

So don't jump into surgery just yet.

Annah,

That was uterly amazing! I had no idea so much of a difference could be done, i have beeen using a system i bought from melanie phillips off her website for $20 which was uterly useless to

me. It sounded like you said LGcandy on youtube? Thank you, you have given me a big boost of confidence. I quit smoking 5 years ago but still have a little smokers scratch as i call it

hopefully i will be able to overcome that too.

I used a digital recorder along with CandiFLA on youtube as well as Kathe Perez's product. Kathe's program does cost money but it's miniscule compared to the costs of surgery...plus a lot safer.

Check out both of them.

A 20 dollar program, in my opinion, seems like a very uncomprehensive source for voice training.

As I said, it took me 6 months. If you look at my youtube videos from the very beginning to the recent, you can hear the development of my voice.

CandiFLA actually learned from melanie ann phillips whom i bought my lessons from. She is awesome thank you for the link and advise!

I would highly recommend trying to train your voice before the surgery.  I taught myself to train my voice using my piano  The surgery isn't a sure bet, and it can be sorta risky.  Here is what I did... I gave myself 1 year to train before I made a decision about the surgery.  After the year my voice was so female that no doctor would even consider doing the surgery on me if I asked.  ALSO, I had one of the deepest southern male voices you've ever heard (just slightly higher than Michael Clark Duncan, that big african american from the movie Green Mile).
Now, this is my voice, and I'm actually sorta raspy in this video too, and it's still unmistakably female... Feel free to continue listening if you enjoy improv piano =)
New Piano Melodies/Improv (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s33VoQqWAeY&list=UUKN4lqu2pKkULcIn2BFJ3vg&index=1&feature=plcp#)

Training is always the first thing, obviously. I'm personally also looking at cricothyroid approximation. Going to talk about it the 30th with my surgeon.
The surgery doesn't actually tamper with our vocal chords, which is a big deal to me. All it does is raise pitch, nothing else. That works for me because pitch is the problem. 220hZ is the typical female pitch, and I speak comfortably and long-duration at around 140-150... Not good enough for me. Everything else about my speech is alright. I also like how CTA basically *removes* your lower vocal range so even when you are tired or not really focusing on your voice, you won't slip too low. I am able to speak at around 180Hz with focus and effort which is fine but the effort to me is murder. I have to focus too much and as soon as I have to focus on more than my voice, I lose it. So the appeal is that you speak at a higher pitch but with no conscious effort at all.
The biggest problem with cricothyroid approximation I'm told by the surgeon and a neurolinguist is that in 30%-ish of cases, the pitch gradually drops back to the original range. That is not the end of the world to me.

I would personally not go for any surgery that actually tampers with the voice box or chords. I think this one's quite safe.

Quote from: Annah on January 15, 2012, 11:21:55 PM
There has been a 2 page exhaustive thread on this from last week
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,113436.0.html (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,113436.0.html)

My voice was extremely deep. I did voice lessons.

Voice lessons is a lot safer, a lot cheaper, and a lot safer (plus a lot safer).

Voice surgery isn't your only option. It takes months (more than three) of devoted practice. If you have surgery, you'll sound like a high pitched man. The falsetto is not the key for feminine voice. Its the intonation and reflection. Surgery doesn't touch that.

Going under the scalpel hoping for faster results will not help. Please read the link I provided.

matter of fact, ill post my old voice audio and my new one to show you how deep it really was.

I wouldn't say your old voice was 'extremely deep' (your's didn't go below the tenor low C, mine was a fair bit deeper pre transition as it rested at the F or F sharp below that) although it was distinctly male sounding and now your voice is one of the most female sounding I have heard from those who I know who have transitioned.

I do agree that voice training will improve your voice, and that in the vast majority of cases voice surgery is not necessary. People often say 'I can only hold a high voice for 2 minutes' and that is normal - at first it will be difficult because your voice isn't used to being used in that way. However, the more you do it, the easier on your voice it becomes, until it's actually difficult to get back to your old voice.

I'll post a clip of my old and current voice as well, to show another comparison: (Sorry, I'm speaking quietly as it's 1am!)

http://www.filedropper.com/voice_1 (http://www.filedropper.com/voice_1)

But actually, being older has its advantages, as you can pull of sounding like a mature woman with a deeper voice, as with the two below - not something I can do being 24!

Mariella Frostrup - The Little Picture Show - 94/95 - pt 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaM6vrvExMw#)

Or even deeper (with a guy doing a impersonation of her!!):

Greg James impersonates Hilary Devey infront of her. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XbWpzTqMgs#)

It's also even possible to sing with enough practice - below is a video demonstrating that I have 3 octaves of singable vocal range - the lower notes sound male, the middle notes are more androgynous, and the higher notes are more androgynous/feminine (I deliberately sing in a voice where it's hard to tell the gender of it!)

Claudia Anderson 3 Octave Vocal Range F2-G5 (Contralto) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aovNlJGP0c8#)

Before I transitioned, I could barely get above the 'E4' note in that video - many males were able to sing higher than me because they had higher (tenor) voices whereas mine was a baritone. However, with practice, I increased my range by more than an octave - so it is possible, even with a deep voice, to significantly increase your vocal range in speaking and singing.