Susan's Place Transgender Resources

It's been 2 months and I can't speak in loud or public places, even in normal restaurant like Pizza Hut my friend could not hear me from the other side of the table not to mention night club.
May I know what is the expected time for volume to return normal, I have hoarseness which comes and goes which I know it's part of the healing process but for volume issue how long can I expect if I'm a normal healer.

Mine took about 6 months to start returning and nearly a year to get near fully volume. It seems to depend on how long it takes for the swelling to go down. When I pull a muscle or other injury, it takes months for the swelling to go down. I heal well and wounds only take two or three weeks.

I am 6 weeks post op from a glottoplasty and came here to post the same thing. I am still hoarse and have low volume. It has increased in volume the past 2 weeks but it is still low.

I think it's probably different for everyone. It's been almost two years since my surgery with Dr. Haben (a re-do in July 2016) and only in the last month have I been able to project my voice a little more than 50% of the volume I once had. A doctor at Penn confirmed that a volume decrease is to be expected with this type of surgery and that she could redo the web by cutting it which would make me gain more volume but lose pitch. It's a tradeoff, so I made a choice: pitch is more important to me than volume. I could get upset over it or life could go on. I chose the latter route and have made do with my lower volume in everything I do. There are workarounds for everything, from headsets when I teach yoga to scheduling meetings in smaller rooms (if possible) so more people can hear me better to sitting next to my date instead of across from him. Rather than complain about my situation, I just made the most of my situation.

I have a question. Has your pitch decreased over time since the glottoplasty?

Geekgirl, you had rework and I think I remember it was to increase volume with Dr. Haban. Did the increase in volume decrease pitch?

I think I have read in many accounts that pitch increased over time and vocal volume increased to a point over time time. Is that correct?

I have a friend that went to a surgeon in Boston that had a 30% web. She is not happy because of a loss of vocal volume. I was at a restaurant recently and I could hear her fine. She sounds female 100%. She says she needs to project her voice in order to get the pitch she wants.

I am 7 weeks post op and my volume is getting better but still very low. I am still hoarse but a little better.

Quote from: Rachel on July 04, 2018, 06:27:35 PM
I have a question. Has your pitch decreased over time since the glottoplasty?

Geekgirl, you had rework and I think I remember it was to increase volume with Dr. Haban. Did the increase in volume decrease pitch?

I think I have read in many accounts that pitch increased over time and vocal volume increased to a point over time time. Is that correct?

I have a friend that went to a surgeon in Boston that had a 30% web. She is not happy because of a loss of vocal volume. I was at a restaurant recently and I could hear her fine. She sounds female 100%. She says she needs to project her voice in order to get the pitch she wants.

I am 7 weeks post op and my volume is getting better but still very low. I am still hoarse but a little better.

My rework was done because the web broke (split apart) the first time resulting in no noticeable change in pitch. The second surgery was successful. My pitch was noticeably higher in the first month or so after I rested and could speak, but I think the reason for that was my voice was so weak I could only emit very weak sounds. Over time, as things healed, I could speak with louder volume, but my voice just doesn't have the same nice timbre as when I speak very softly. So in my case projecting my voice makes my pitch sound lower and my overall voice more hoarse. When I speak softly, I have a Demi Moore quality to my voice and it is higher. I like speaking over the phone because my voice is amplified by the phone and I could speak very softly. I've had many strangers tell me that my voice is quite nice.

I teach yoga and depend on my voice to teach. Sometimes halfway into my class, I feel my voice straining and I go into conservation mode, meaning I try to keep my volume at a much lower level to conserve energy and not wear out my vocal chords. I always try to teach with my headset on, but sometimes I teach without it, especially in smaller classes, to maintain a more intimate setting. On days I teach two classes back to back, the second class is a great strain for me because my voice is already hoarse by then. It usually takes a day or so of rest for my voice to return to an non-hoarse state. I'm two years post-op VFS, so I'm pretty sure this is probably what I'll have to deal with for the rest of my life. I have no regrets with the surgery. I'm sad I can't sing anymore, but I feel hopeful as I sang, with great effort, a scale the other day. My high notes sound awful, as if my vocal chords just don't vibrate properly at the high end.