Question! When I first looked up surgery for my voice, I heard the risk is quite high that you lose your voice permanently, so I decided not to even bother going into it.

Although even now that my voice is improving I just don't know how to get rid of the 'default' sounds. Laughing, coughing, sneezing I did fix . But does anyone either has tips for those, or can tell me if the risk is worth it to get surgery?

Things that help me feminize coughs and sneezes is to keep the mouth wide (creates a higher pitch sound) and add a feminine sounding "ahem" at the end. People tend to only remember the last part of the sound and if it's a feminine sound, then that's how they will read it. Sneezes are a little easier if can keep your mouth completely covers, they are kind of quiet and sound the same either way, but occasionally you get a very explosive sneeze and can't help it.

I am not sure about how much voice surgery changes all of these. Maybe to a degree, another part is probably the size of the larynx and resonance chamber which does not change with a surgery. You can go through the posts in this forum to see if a surgery is something for you. No one here lost the voice. And I am hardly aware of anyone loosing the voice completely. It seems that with CTA there is some risk, with glottoplasty the risk is there only if you do not follow the no speak times. Even then there are good chances that it can be fixed with fresh sutures. I think the most risk with voice surgery seems to be that the voice could sound strained, breathy, hoarse, weak, too high or too low pitched for your appearance or artificial. These factors seem to be minimizable by choosing the right surgeon and the right technique and keeping all the voice rest instructions plus voice therapy once it is advised.

Quote from: anjaq on September 17, 2014, 10:08:54 AM
These factors seem to be minimizable by choosing the right surgeon and the right technique and keeping all the voice rest instructions plus voice therapy once it is advised.

^

The risks for surgery are quite high no matter which surgeon performs it. The operation area is vital to your breathing, eating and speaking. Quite often it cannot be reversed and the reasons for having it should be sound and well thought through.

The coughing and sneezing thing was something I brought up with my speech therapist.. She played me a selection of coughs and sneezes and asked me to gender them. I got less than 50% right. She then want on to tell me there was no real audible difference - but that the tell was our reactions.

Do you experience some of the risks, greenrabbit? I know you were about to go for a voice surgery - what makes you say that it is so risky now?

kelly - what does she mean by the reactions being a tell? You mean how a person acts when one has to sneeze? Is there a gender difference? I never imagined. It just happens without me controlling it to sneeze or cough.

Quote from: anjaq on September 22, 2014, 04:01:15 AM
Do you experience some of the risks, greenrabbit? I know you were about to go for a voice surgery - what makes you say that it is so risky now?

kelly - what does she mean by the reactions being a tell? You mean how a person acts when one has to sneeze? Is there a gender difference? I never imagined. It just happens without me controlling it to sneeze or cough.

I meant more how we react to them.. With sneezing, men are apparently more likely to just let it go.. Women are apparently more likely to try and stifle a sneeze somewhat.

Which everyone tells me would be unhealthy - to stop the sneeze.