Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I'm kind of surprising myself . I'm using my voice more and I don't see anyone flinching. I just try to relax and go softly and a little higher nd it seems to be working to where I can hold a decently long conversation.

I would say mine somewhere between good and really good. Sometimes in really is fantastic. Hugs
Mariah

I am not successful, I still sound like I was when living as male, Nobody apparently cares since no one ever mentions about it lol.

I'm happy with mine. When I have the money I'll hire a trainer to go through with me and iron out some stuff but well... you guys tell me :P http://vocaroo.com/i/s0D2ukckLZGF

Mind the turrabul kiwi accent.

Mine sounds very feminin , like in really feminin . I often get complimented by cis and trans women . One guy ever told me he loved my voice and he would take me out for a date only to hear me speaking :D

So I guess I'm a natural at sounding feminin .

I have no issues at all with mine but I had surgery. It's my #1 asset for "passing" right now. Nobody ever misgenders me for my voice or, at all now for that matter.

Quote from: Frae on January 12, 2016, 06:36:55 PM
I'm happy with mine. When I have the money I'll hire a trainer to go through with me and iron out some stuff but well... you guys tell me :P http://vocaroo.com/i/s0D2ukckLZGF

Mind the turrabul kiwi accent.

Wow that's really damn good, I cant believe the difference between your girl and boy voice.
How did you manage to get it so good?

When I am on the phone I am always gendered female. If people look doubtful I talk to them and my voice swings it.

All it took was constant practice. A couple of years worth of constant effort, but it is so worth it. Forget FFS, voice is for free and it cuts down on misgendering too. Voice really triggers people into the correct behaviour.

Quote from: pyhxbp on January 12, 2016, 06:46:46 PM
When I am on the phone I am always gendered female. If people look doubtful I talk to them and my voice swings it.

All it took was constant practice. A couple of years worth of constant effort, but it is so worth it. Forget FFS, voice is for free and it cuts down on misgendering too. Voice really triggers people into the correct behaviour.

Without VFS?


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Quote from: ImSuziG on January 12, 2016, 06:52:44 PM
Without VFS?

I did not need that either. What I needed was a dictaphone to record my voice and play it back to me. Anything that I said that sounded like it had a female inflection I repeated and worked on until it improved. It was frustrating, annoying, hard and difficult, but I could do it more or less anywhere and it was free after buying the dictaphone which was only about £15.

No surgery and I pass 100% of the time, phone and in person. Practice makes perfect. :) The key is resonance, NOT pitch as many believe. Using only those muscles above the adams apple, those triggered when one swallows.

Quote from: Kayla88 on January 12, 2016, 06:45:22 PM
Wow that's really damn good, I cant believe the difference between your girl and boy voice.
How did you manage to get it so good?

Daw thanks! I found this page https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbTtASux7ys and specifically this series of videos really helpful.

I just followed along and tried to copy everything. At the same time I recorded myself and had a spectrogram going. The same youtube page has "finding your feminine voice" which is quite dry but very helpful.

I also get gendered female on the phone. VFS isn't the only way :D (it is the most expensive)

Quote from: KayXo on January 12, 2016, 06:56:10 PM
No surgery and I pass 100% of the time, phone and in person. Practice makes perfect. :)

Me too . I didn't even have to practice . I'm a natural . People love my voice .

Looking for an app or something that will give me the pitch that I am at, only things I have found are for singing (which may work) or for tuning a guitar. Willing to pay a few bucks if necessary. I was thinking I could use my voice memo app on my phone to record and playback to test too.


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Look for a spectrogram app. Not sure if there is one, I used a computer program but it's a good bet, they are a little hard to set up but once done they are super helpful.

"Extremely not good". I just can't seem to get it to work at all. It makes me really depressed at times. I might be one of the few who need surgery to get it to go higher, but it isn't covered by the NHS as far as I know. Sigh.

People don't seem to really comment on it in person (my presentation is going well at the moment) but on phone I fail 100%.

Sitting in my favorite bar right now and having a conversation with another girl and so far so good, She's got a heavy accent though so I'm not sure how she's perceiving my voice, but it's very liberating.

Quote from: Frae on January 12, 2016, 06:57:26 PM
Daw thanks! I found this page and specifically this series of videos really helpful.

I just followed along and tried to copy everything. At the same time I recorded myself and had a spectrogram going. The same youtube page has "finding your feminine voice" which is quite dry but very helpful.

I also get gendered female on the phone. VFS isn't the only way :D (it is the most expensive)

Thank you  ;D. I will have to try to find some willpower to do it.

Quote from: Kayla88 on January 12, 2016, 07:17:12 PM
Thank you  ;D. I will have to try to find some willpower to do it.

That is the trickey part!

I seriously only looked through the series once then just copied I think the second the last video lots. I was kinda bad at first but just started forcing myself to use it around the house and occasionally recorded myself on something.

You vocal cords get used to it and after a while you can just feel when it sounds right. Look up some vocal stretches and care. (no clearing your throat, drink water or a short cough).

My favourite one is yawning. Open your mouth really wide and take a big slow gulp of air. You'll feel the back of your throat widen and go taunt. These are the muscles you want to be thinking about.

Gah I'm over complicating things! The most important thing is get started, make mistakes, sound silly for a while and correct as you go.

yes , you sound good

If you can do it without surgery, then you save that money and aggravation. Some people can do it, others need the help from the surgeon's scalpel.

Mine is pretty good and even on the phone I'm always gendered female unless it's a crappy phone line connection where even my wife can get gendered male on the phone. (It used to happen on my old original iPhone 5 on Verizon, but my iPhone 6plus hasn't been a problem.) I once went to pick up my prescription at Costco and the computer outed me by messing up my name with my dead name in part of the system. (And finasteride isn't normally given to women.) The woman caught it and changed it for me, but then she complimented me on my voice and asked if I had surgery. I told her I had not, that I trained my voice and it's automatic for me now. She said that she would have never known if it wasn't for the computer and one of her girl friends she grew up with has the exact same voice as me.

My voice was 100% unpassable without surgery. It was so deep that I would have a strong resonance and timbre in my speech, short of whispering or in a falsetto. To give you an idea, I sounded like George Takei. Ohhh myyy.

Well, not anymore. For the past several weeks post op, people have just been saying, "You poor thing, are you sick?" Or, "drink tea with honey," and of course, "Ah laryngitis, I had that a few weeks ago." No amount of training I did got me that far, and anytime I opened my mouth to speak I was instantly clocked. Now I'm just a sickly girl :P

Audree

Surgery won't do much as it only changes pitch. Resonance is key to sounding female and no surgery at the present moment changes resonance.

I'm happy with mine, nobody ever blinks when I talk and the slightly deeper/rougher sound of it seems to fit a butch woman of my size. My Mom keeps remarking on the difference. When I call her or my father now they don't have to guess if it is me or my brother.  I'm pretty open about being trans so sometimes I like being able to drop back down but I can't remember how I used to sound. It actually tends to sound like a girl trying to do a boy voice when I drop down. When I'm in a sketchy situation though I tend to soften it up though. It has gotten softer on its own too, so that helps.

My voice is naturally soft and gender neutral - my dad used to give me endless crap when I was a kid because my voice "sounded like the girl that lived across the street" - I guess he was trying to man me up or something by ridiculing me over something that I had no control over. When puberty hit my voice didn't drop very much.

Now that I'm older I fight issues with acid reflux and allergies - when I wake up in the morning I tend to sound froggy because of that, but it usually clears up once I'm up and around.

I did have some voice lessons but it wasn't "real" until I was living full time - that forced me into practicing and using my female voice.

I can usually hit a passable feminine voice unless the reflux or the allergies are hitting me. I get no weird looks when I speak, but sometimes I get "sirred" on the phone so there is more work to be done.

Trying to drop my voice back into the old male range has gotten progressively harder to do.

Quote from: Eva Marie on January 13, 2016, 08:56:09 AM
I did have some voice lessons but it wasn't "real" until I was living full time - that forced me into practicing and using my female voice.

This!

I found that if I used my male voice it made my female one decay. No matter how short my "male mode" was it had a real impact. Once I was full time my female voice improved in a matter of days

Quote from: Eva Marie on January 13, 2016, 08:56:09 AMTrying to drop my voice back into the old male range has gotten progressively harder to do.

I did half-heartedly try my male voice some time ago and I sounded like a woman impersonating a bloke so everything is good :D :D

My vocals will probably be going under the knife. I haven't been that satisfied with my staying power as of yet. Time will tell...

I figured I was good enough once I could sway people's opinions towards gendering me correctly by opening my mouth.

These days, I've been doing a bunch of radio shows, which will definitely force me to keep thinking about my voice. :) So far so good, though.

(I've been practicing for ~6 years by now, though.)

I need to practice on the phone, I usually don't try because I usually only call for a cab and it's the same company , but I'm thinking of starting to try and use my proper name when I call because the cab drivers keep asking if I called because I use a male name.

Voice has been my strongest suit when I first started my transition. I think if I didn't have my voice sounding like this it would definitely derail my transition until I can get VFS done.

As mentioned above, voice will be the swing vote when someone is trying to clock you more than your appearance i think.

Here's a sample of my voice - it is an old recording.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1EsTg4qru9G

April

I think it's pretty good it took me a lot of practice though. Biggest issue though is that I only trained it in English and not in Dutch my native language so online I can speak and people are pretty sure it's a girl but in Dutch while I have the pitch and all that down of course I don't know how to "say" words like a girl does from around here it's especially annoying knowing males and females don't sound that different in the using of words. And finding someone to listen to who speaks the tongue and preferably in the same dialect then the region I'm from its hard. So I end up not really having a lot of references

Quote from: April_TO on January 13, 2016, 11:14:36 AM
Voice has been my strongest suit when I first started my transition. I think if I didn't have my voice sounding like this it would definitely derail my transition until I can get VFS done.

As mentioned above, voice will be the swing vote when someone is trying to clock you more than your appearance i think.

Here's a sample of my voice - it is an old recording.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1EsTg4qru9G

April

sounds good

Quote from: April_TO on January 13, 2016, 11:14:36 AM

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1EsTg4qru9G

April

Yay someone else posted their voice!

You sound great! Amazing even.

Thanks Frae and  I also heard your voice - you sound amazing xo

Quote from: Frae on January 13, 2016, 02:42:55 PM
Yay someone else posted their voice!

You sound great! Amazing even.

I voted phenomenal, self trained

Shall post voice recording soon  >:-)

After two years of sppech therapy and tryibng hard my voice passing was still not good enough.

I recently had vfs and I am SOOOOOOOOOO happy. Was one of my best descision ever. My voice is still thin and hoarse but my passing is perfect. Now I do not have to care about laughing or other noises even whilst having sex. I am just recognized as the the woman I every was. Freedom!

Quote from: KayXo on January 13, 2016, 07:19:35 AM
Surgery won't do much as it only changes pitch. Resonance is key to sounding female and no surgery at the present moment changes resonance.

Yes and no. I had a lot of training and changed my resonance but still sounded male on the phone. Now I cannot talk in hest resonance really. If I try it really sounds different and still more feminine than masculine.

So vfs (I had surgery with Dr. Haben) changes a lot. Especially laughing and other noises just sound feminine.

Quote from: Lara1969 on January 14, 2016, 05:22:23 PM
Yes and no. I had a lot of training and changed my resonance but still sounded male on the phone. Now I cannot talk in hest resonance really.

Perhaps, you were wrongly trained in how to change resonance because if mastered, you should not feel any vibrations from under the adam's apple, ever.

Quote from: Lara1969 on January 14, 2016, 05:15:19 PM
My voice is still thin and hoarse

Yes, I heard. Unfortunately, that is often a complication of voice surgery. Hope it improves with time. :)

I choose other because I think I sound totally like a guy even when I do record and playback, but family has told me that my voice sounds fine. So I really don't know. My voice has never vibrated in my chest, but it has and continues to vibrate at the base of my neck no matter what I do. It ends up sounding like a guy faking his voice most of the time, so in public I just use my guy voice so people don't know it worries me. I have heard the woman sound come out maybe once or twice over almost a year, but that's it.

Quote from: Emileeeee on January 15, 2016, 12:39:24 PM
it has and continues to vibrate at the base of my neck no matter what I do.

That's because you continue to use muscles UNDER your Adam's apple when speaking. Those muscles should NOT be used, and instead only those muscles that contract when you swallow and bring the Adam's apple upp and backwards should be used. This has the effect that less of your voice box is being used so in essence, you have a smaller voice box, like cisfemales. After awhile, using those muscles in this way when speaking becomes second nature. In 10 yrs, I have ALWAYS gotten madamed on the phone. It works, it's not hard once you understand the mechanics... ;)

I've read that and tried it over and over again, but I never actually developed an Adam's apple due to my excessively low T I assume, so I don't know where that actually is to do that.

Quote from: Emileeeee on January 15, 2016, 07:21:42 PM
I've read that and tried it over and over again, but I never actually developed an Adam's apple due to my excessively low T I assume, so I don't know where that actually is to do that.

Like I said earlier try opening your mouth really wide and yawning, feel how the ring in your throat just behind your tongue expands? There.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJjBK4rNPYo

Half way through this they show you the structure of the throat and help you find your vocal cords. Warning: Dry as heck.

Aha! Thanks!

I took voice lessons with Sandy Hirsch (http://www.givevoice.com/transgender.shtml), one of the best trans voice therapists in the US (world?) I'm very happy with the results. She's expensive $100/hr) and has a long waiting list. I never get misgendered on the phone and I've gotten numerous compliments on my voice from many of my trans* friends.

Pitch is not as important as phrasing, inflections, breathing and how you use your "instrument" (throat, lips, tongue). I only had to raise my pitch a little to get into the androgynous zone.

I think most MTFs don't need voice surgery, as long as they find (or are guided in finding) their female voice :)

I had a deep male voice that I can no longer reach.  Here's my voice now:

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0U0XOXPhDlt

Quote from: starting_anew on January 20, 2016, 03:13:38 PM
I think most MTFs don't need voice surgery, as long as they find (or are guided in finding) their female voice :)

I had a deep male voice that I can no longer reach.  Here's my voice now:

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0U0XOXPhDlt

very nice thanks

Quote from: KayXo on January 13, 2016, 07:19:35 AM
Surgery won't do much as it only changes pitch. Resonance is key to sounding female and no surgery at the present moment changes resonance.

Given my personal experience with  surgery I can say this is mostly incorrect but about 1/3 correct.

Surgery does quite a lot.

It changes more than just fundamental pitch. It also changes the overall timbre of the voice. Remember your voice is a complex instrument and gendering of voices is much more than pitch alone.

You are right about resonance. I lucked out in that regard. I have zero male resonance. I have to try hard to get a chesty voice and it's not comfortable to do. But yes I have heard women who have high pitch yet sound male because of resonance.

Quote from: starting_anew on January 20, 2016, 03:13:38 PM
I think most MTFs don't need voice surgery, as long as they find (or are guided in finding) their female voice :)

I had a deep male voice that I can no longer reach.  Here's my voice now:

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0U0XOXPhDlt

That is fantastic. Did you use a program or self taught?


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Quote from: ImSuziG on January 20, 2016, 09:39:32 PM
That is fantastic. Did you use a program or self taught?


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Thank you :) mostly self-taught.  I used to sing in a punk band, and I used a very different kind of voice back in the day, but I think my singing background probably helped.  There are some really great youtube videos I used to help though... Shae Sanguine's videos on voice in particular (I think that's actually her username on youtube).

In the vast majority of cases, I'm not impressed AT ALL with results from voice surgery. Even long-term follow-up.

I downloaded the app EVA MTF and it seems promising. The app is free and has some free content but there are paid lessons too.


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I pass 100% of the time with it, and did so without surgery, so by all means it's "successful," but honestly I still hate it because it sounds a bit shrill, nasaly, and forced. It sounds like a transy voice to my ears rather than the soft tone that a cis woman has. Plus it tends to sound guyish when I start getting frustrated, so I still might look into VFS one day if I can afford it. I really don't like having to put conscious effort into it, I really wish it was just a natural thing that I didn't EVER have to worry about. That wasn't an option, though, I guess this post was just about "success." If that's the case, I've had exactly ONE person in the last two years ever tell me that I have a deep voice, with many more complimenting me that I had a nice voice, even though I don't really agree with them.

Quote from: Carrie Liz on January 21, 2016, 11:34:05 AM
I really wish it was just a natural thing that I didn't EVER have to worry about.

I wish that too BUT current surgeries available don't give me much confidence in attaining that goal and costs/risks outweigh benefits by a wide margin. Just not worth it. Yet!

What an interesting topic and such sincerity coming from all of you.

In my case, I did Voice-Over for years, and did back up vocals for a lot of groups and singers.

Believe it or not, it's one of the hardest "Voices" I've had to work on. I've had some voice therapy, and that has helped (Timbre, Tone,Pacing,etc)  but I can't hit the notes well in a song without going falsetto. This isn't good for me. :(   

At the moment, I'll be getting my facial surgery first (eventhough my friends are telling me I don't need it). And then later, I may end up going to Korea to a place called Yeson (I"m not sure if I spelled it right).  The surgery is around $7500.00 (I'd rather put that into my FFS) --AND I can't get my trache shaved when I get my FFS because you can't have it shaved for this surgery! Luckily, I do not have a pronounced bump.

I think most girls can benefit from regular voice therapy, and I wouldn't recommend surgery unless you have a really deep voice or you need it to sing.

Admittedly, there are times where I feel it's more of a pain than anything else. But it helps me pass 99.9% of the time. My close friends let me relax around them;I never get too low, but it's nice to have a safe place to let your hair , or should I say voice down without anyone passing judgement.

In the end it's all up to you to decide what you feel is best.

i honestly didnt make any effort in training my voice.  I should do it however but even if my voice is loud well there are womans with loud voice too..  Its more like a confidence thing and trying not to add to much resonance to your voice.   VFS is a thing i will do but probably the last.

Quote from: Lady_Oracle on January 14, 2016, 03:30:31 PM
I voted phenomenal, self trained

Shall post voice recording soon  >:-)

lol im so late with this but I didn't forget! I've been sick a lot these past few months, allergy attacks, flu, colds...anyways here's my voice, like i defeated the nasely voice thing a few years back ugh that phase was so annoying.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1DqJQK6Y8Gz

I'm finding I do all right not having surgery. I'm to the point of not really trying or thinking about it and it comes out all right.

Although I've no Adam's apple I still sound like Lemmy from Motorhead( RIP big man)

Quote from: Lady_Oracle on March 12, 2016, 08:03:37 PM
...anyways here's my voice

Love it; it's really perfect.

Hello,

I think I have been fortunate enough with my voice that I didn't require any voice training or surgery. I still think voice is the most important part of one's transition. I have seen in many threads that it is usually the swing vote when one is trying to question your gender. However, to each its own.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1KE9T8GNflu

Quote from: KayXo on January 21, 2016, 01:55:54 PM
I wish that too BUT current surgeries available don't give me much confidence in attaining that goal and costs/risks outweigh benefits by a wide margin. Just not worth it. Yet!

How many girls do you heard which had surgery with Dr. Kim or Dr. Haben? The results from the last 12 months are excellent. So you not argue against vfs, you just argue that the results are not good enough?

Quote from: Ⓥ on March 13, 2016, 05:32:28 PM
Love it; it's really perfect.

muchas gracias  :D

I'd say my 'default' voice does not match my looks. Sometimes if I'm in the right mood, not ill and if I concentrate on it I can pull off a good enough voice that does not get me clocked if I'm face to face with somebody. That is not good enough for me. If I had the money VFS would be a no-brainer for me, until then I'll try to get the best out of what I have but it hinders my transition because I just don't want to go full-time until my voice doesn't get to a level where I can use a phone or hold a training without getting clocked.

Quote from: Lady_Oracle on March 12, 2016, 08:03:37 PM
lol im so late with this but I didn't forget! I've been sick a lot these past few months, allergy attacks, flu, colds...anyways here's my voice, like i defeated the nasely voice thing a few years back ugh that phase was so annoying.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1DqJQK6Y8Gz

excelent

Quote from: April_TO on March 13, 2016, 05:41:07 PM
Hello,

I think I have been fortunate enough with my voice that I didn't require any voice training or surgery. I still think voice is the most important part of one's transition. I have seen in many threads that it is usually the swing vote when one is trying to question your gender. However, to each its own.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1KE9T8GNflu

excelent

My doctor talked me out of the surgery, or at least got me to try training first. Only been working on the voice about 6 weeks. I seem to do ok out in public as long as I don't have to say much more than a sentence. At home when practicing and talking to my cats I can do ok for a couple of hours.

I think I have a bit of a mental block because I seem to have the hardest time when talking to my friends or at work.
When I listen to a recording of my practice sessions I sound pretty good, unfortunately thats not the same sound I hear in my head when I'm talking. I know most of us sound different on a recording than we do in our heads, just wish I could hear myself as others do. That might help my confidence.

I'm finding just relaxing and being like Joni Mitchell works pretty good. I was in CVS a few weeks ago and this girl was talking to the pharmacist and holy smokes was her voice high.