Quote from: iKate on September 27, 2015, 06:24:05 PM
Well, wow. I didn't mean to offend you. But here is honesty.
I think if you perfect this voice without the "valley girl" accent it will work much better than the other.
To me it sounds very passable. Based on the voice alone I would read you female 100%. However I don't see your whole presentation and that is why maybe people don't use feminine pronouns with you as there may be something else that tips them off and the voice just kind of pushes it over the edge.
For me for example I know it is not my voice that makes me pass 100% because I get gendered female before I speak many times. It has always been that way (and when I did speak before I die my VFS they would call me "sir" or "him" or "he.")
So I would say perfect this voice and it will do good.
I do apologize if you were offended in any way. I was just trying to be helpful and to be honest it's mostly my preference. You are free to speak however you want.
Honestly, you didn't really offend me. You just gave me an opinion I guess I really needed to hear.
With how old I am now, I really shouldn't be trying to go the valley girl route... I guess to be fair though, I am going off the past when my hair wasn't as long as it is now and also the fact I had literally zero confidence in myself. That could of been what was making people read me as masculine, even though I have little confidence now I'm still better then I was then. If anything is probably pushing in person for masculine pronouns, it's probably my appearance and I'm a tad uneasy to go showing that just quite yet.
So I'll take your advice and try to work with my natural voice, rather then the presentation voice. Thank you again.
Quote from: Dena on September 27, 2015, 07:15:53 PM
Missing: I just listened to both voices and of the two I like the second one better. It sounds more professional and like you have you act together. I think you may be misreading people when you use the second voice in public. I think the reason they give you the look is because the voice is very young pitch wise. It is in the female voice range but I think it's on the upper end. Most but not all women past the age of about 25 would have a lower voice and people may be trying to resolve the difference between your voice pitch and the age they think you are. Just checked you profile for your age and that could be the problem. A question for you is do you pass the telephone test with the second voice. I suspect you do.
Pronouns tend not to be used on younger people and are reserved for adults. If they consider your voice to be teenage, you will find pronouns few and far between.
I consider the second voice to be clear and understandable, contains enough inflection and genders female. I would be happy of my surgical voice ends up half as good as yours.
Honestly, thanks for this. In the past I just didn't know what to think as far as my voice went but maybe the problem wasn't fully my voice or I just can't read people. I honestly didn't realize my pitch made me sound very young, that'd probably be part of the looks.. cause I definitely don't look younger then my age. I actually have tried the telephone test with my natural voice and usually people will again, avoid pronouns or I will get a ma'am. It's mostly been social gatherings that led me to believe my natural voice was bad that and online 'calls' which could of arguably been my microphone at the time.
Thank you, really.. I'm sure your voice will come out really amazing after surgery.