Finding Your Voice

Voice and communication therapy is offered as part of our treatment pathway at NCTH. If you wish to align your voice and communication with your identity in ways that feel authentic to you, we can help you do this safely.  This may involve explore changes to your vocal technique, including pitch, resonance, intonation, rhythm, and volume.

Sessions may include singing to explore different vocal techniques. From our clinical experience, better understanding of pitch can help with voice modification. This technique will be discussed in our one-to-one and some group sessions. Non-verbal communication can be discussed if you wish to explore this in one-to-one or group therapy sessions.

Click here to view various intonation and rhythm exercises.

 

Voice assessment and voice therapy

Dr Ioanna Georgiadou, MA, RCSLT, HCPC, CCC-SLP Speech and language therapist, transgender voice specialist and Christopher Cook, Bsc Hons, MRCSLT, HCPC

 

Voice change - the beginning

The goal of voice change, and specifically of voice feminization or masculinization, may be to reflect what is heard on the outside or the individual’s voice identity with the person’s inside identity. Beginning the process of voice change can be very exciting and at the same time it can be frightening for many people. In our work as speech and language therapists, our clients often report feeling nervous about the different challenges they may face as they attempt to change their voice. Feminizing or masculinizing your voice is an exciting process and we hope that the information on this website will help in understanding some basic principles of voice change.

 

One-to-one voice therapy at our clinic - session structure

We generally offer 5 one-to-one voice sessions that are designed to help with voice change in a step-by-step process. Depending on your ability, we individualize each session to fit your needs.

 

Voice - what is it?

Our voice (or voice identity) sounds like our own because of several different factors combined: some of these may be pitch, resonance, intonation, rhythm, intensity, rate, and articulation. The next few paragraphs define these factors.

Pitch: How high or low we can move our voice. It is the perceptual correlate of the frequency of vocal fold vibration (measured in Hertz/Hz).

Resonance: The voice quality (how rich a voice may sound). Generally, masculine voices are perceived to resonate mostly from the chest area, whereas feminine voices are perceived to resonate mostly from the head area.

Intonation: The upward and downward movement of the voice or the inflection of the voice. Generally feminine voices are perceived to have more inflections than masculine voices.  

Volume: The loudness or intensity of our voice. It is the perceptual correlate of amplitude (measured in decibels, dB). Generally, masculine voices are perceived to be louder than feminine voices.

Rhythm: The patterning of syllables in speech. Rhythm is measured in terms of vowel duration. Generally, a more legato rhythm (smooth and connected with longer vowels) may be more stereotypical for feminine voices, whereas a more staccato rhythm (choppy with shorter vowels) may be more stereotypical of masculine voices.

Articulation: The shaping of sounds by the tongue, lip, jaw, soft/hard palate, teeth and alveolar ridge to produce speech. Generally, feminine voices are perceived to be clearer in terms of articulation and more precise.

Vocal health - keeping your voice at its best

Vocal health refers to voice related behaviours that are beneficial for any voice user. Vocal health recommendations include modifications in lifestyle or behaviours that are summarized below:

• Increase water intake. The vocal folds function best when they are hydrated adequately. 
• Decrease caffeine and alcohol consumption (these tend to try the vocal folds).
• Reduce/eliminate smoking.
• Avoid vocal behaviours such as shouting, loud speaking or screaming. These behaviours irritate the vocal folds.
• Assess acoustic properties of a room and modify as needed (e.g., use amplification).
• Incorporate voice rest in daily schedule and reduce talk time when possible.