How do you get work on your femme voice?

[KateSpade83]

Well, some of you here want a sex change. If you do get srs one thing left that's manly is your voice... So how do you change that? Is there a special surgeon for that? How much would it cost?

[Bree-asaurus]

Your voice takes practice. There are several videos on YouTube that talk about finding your female voice. I've been practicing for 6-8 months and can do it by myself, so now I'm working on being able to do it in front of others. Start practicing as soon as you can, it's probably one of the most important tells when trying to pass.

[Stephanie Anne]

You don't need surgery to change your voice. It takes time and effort but once you do, you will find you can't easily go back.

[AnnaCalliope]

Personally, I'd suggest watching any one of the video's on YouTube on how do achieve a female voice without surgery. Or Download Melanie Anne's Guide on How to Speak Like A Female.

Achieving a feminine voice through surgery is still fairly unreliable. Any number of small mistakes could leave you with a raspy sounding voice, a deeper voice or the inability to speak at all. The last report I read on M2Fs who had a Trachea shave (I think its called, its a reduction in the Adams Apple), only 60% were happy with the final result. Now think about SRS and the success rate is much, much higher.

Some think its worth the risk. Not me.

[bianca66]

Girls talk with the upper parts of their throats...Men rely on their vocal cords more than woman...I could only talk for 5 to 10 minutes at first due to the strain but with daily practice the length of time improved.

As Bree stated check out YouTube...Practice makes perfect and might increase your comfort level when going out shopping etc.

[curiousrabbit]

The last report I read on M2Fs who had a Trachea shave (I think its called, its a reduction in the Adams Apple), only 60% were happy with the final result.

I'm pretty sure that isn't something that affects voice.. it is just cosmetic shaving down the adams apple cartilage.

[Frances]

Well, some of you here want a sex change. If you do get srs one thing left that's manly is your voice... So how do you change that? Is there a special surgeon for that? How much would it cost?

I worked on my voice first. I did not cost money and was pretty easy. I watched some videos, and work a little on it, but living full time (the RLE) will force anyone to make it happen. Being called sir on the phone was unacceptable. It is not just the voice, but a whole softening of the personality that is required, changing vocabulary, attitude, body movement, the way one occupies space around people and so forth. In my opinion, SRS is the icing on the cake and does not help with the social transition, which I think is the hardest part.

[Cindi Johnson]

The last report I read on M2Fs who had a Trachea shave (I think its called, its a reduction in the Adams Apple), only 60% were happy with the final result. Now think about SRS and the success rate is much, much higher.

A trachea shave reduces the size of one's adam's apple, which for some of us is a dead giveaway of being born male. For $3K or $4K you can get it trimmed back. Money well spent, for me at least. Outpatient surgery, check into hospital by 7AM and out by noon. I had Dr. Bowers work on mine. It has NO effect, positive or negative, on one's voice; the cartilage is trimmed, but the surgeon does not touch the vocal cords or voicebox. I've never heard of anyone being dissatisfied with a trachael shave, as there's really not anything that can go wrong.
In contrast, from all I've read, surgery to change one's voice generally fails, often resulting in a raspy "smoker's voice".

[thechic]

It certainly helps having the female voice ,I use to practice when ever in the car when ever alone then when talking on the phone,and now just all the time,been doing the female talk thing for over 10Years now far as i know there is no other way to change your voice.but there is a lot of info on the net.

[Faith_G]

Stuff that will not change your voice:
Hormones
Trach shave
Speech therapy (if you think the speech therapist is going to change it for you)

Stuff that will change your voice:
Surgery. I've talked to one woman who had it, she sounds squeaky and she does not recommend it to anyone. All surgery does is give you a higher voice, it does not make you talk like a woman. Without changing the way you speak, you will sound like a man with a high voice.

Speech therapy. If you are willing to do the work and practice like you are supposed to, a therapist can help YOU change your voice. But you are the one who has to do the changing - not just the basic tone, but the inflections, the rhythm, and the word choices. It's hard work, physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Online/mail order programs. See above, it's just you don't get interactive coaching so it's even harder. Practice, practice, PRACTICE. Oh, and practice some more.




I watched the "Melanie Speaks" video once, took some of her ideas and practiced a lot. My voice is pretty good now. I don't get "Sir" on the phone anymore. I get lots of compliments from people who are familiar with trans issues. I must be doing something right.

My best tip: Your internal monologue (everybody has one, you think in a language and that language has a voice you hear in your head, right now is your natural guy voice) needs to change for you to be able to speak fluently as a woman. It's like learning a foreign language. You speak in an awkward and stilted manner at first because you are always translating. But as you learn more, you begin to think in the new language and your speech becomes natural. Speaking with a female voice is the same way. What I did was externalize my internal monologue - yes, I talked to myself out loud in my new female voice. Only when I was alone, of course. It was very helpful, not just because I started thinking with a female voice, but also because it gave me lots of PRACTICE.

You will find that once you go full time your voice will tend to get better. This is mostly because you don't have to switch between two voices, but also you get more feedback (funny looks when you fail, smiles or no reaction when you succeed) and of course you get more PRACTICE.

[Aprilrain]

I never made any attempt to change my voice until I went to my first cd/ts support group meeting about three months ago. I just thought there was no way to do it then I talk to some girls there CDs and TSes and they just told me to practice. I immediately started trying it while out shoping en femme I figured what difference does it make it's not like I pass anyway and it's better than a male voice. I know I have a lot of work to do but vie been told it's resonably passable. I would like to see aspeach therapist so they could help me correct what ever I might be doing wrong and give me tips.
I think it's like chess it only takes a day to learn how to play the game but a life time to master meaning you could probably come up with something workable in a week or two but don't stop there.

[Traci Elizabeth]

What I did was externalize my internal monologue - yes, I talked to myself out loud in my new female voice. Only when I was alone, of course. It was very helpful, not just because I started thinking with a female voice, but also because it gave me lots of PRACTICE.

OMG! Not another one! I do the same thing. I never talk in my mind anymore but always out loud. You will be amazed at how many hours of daily training you get that way.

Never say anything in your thoughts but verbalize them out loud. I have even taped myself every once in awhile to hear back what I sound like.

Sometimes I still strain especially when talking for long periods of time. I am becoming very pleased with my female voice but as another has stated, it takes a life-time to master so never stop talking! :D

[Melody Moore]

I do exactly the same thing as Faith & Traci by vocalising my female thoughts, but this is also the same technique I used for
learning how to sing or play a song. I would listen to the song a couple of times then after that I could always hear the song
in my head just like how it is meant to sound then I would use my vocal chords to emulate the same pitch & intonations I hear
in the vocal track, or use a guitar to work out the musical arrangement and all by listening to the song playing in my head.

The female vocal range is only up around the key of A (440) in the musical scale and is not that hard for anyone to reach
with just a little practice, so if you are anything of a singer, then feminising your voice is really easy. What Faith & Traci
have pointed out here by vocalising your thoughts is something really important & something you really should do. It is
just like rehearsing to sing a song and the more you practice getting your voice to the correct pitch & intonation the easier
it becomes & feels more natural to do.

Women speak in a slightly higher register, but the biggest difference between a male voice & female voice is not the
higher register, it is the intonation & the use of pitch while speaking. I don't even have to think now if my phone rings
& I answer it & say hello, my female voice is instantly there. So to feminise your voice properly, everything you eat, think,
live, talk & breath should always be as a female.

[CharleneT]

All of the above ... but I'll put in a plug for a good speech therapist. Their basic job would seem at first glance to teach you to speak up in the female range. Indeed that it is, more specifically speak up there without tiring your voice or damaging your cords ( yes, that is possible ). But a good therapist will teach you a LOT more than that. Much about intonation, cadence, breathing/breathyness, female language patterns and other bits. Especially how to integrate all these things. The surgeries that are available are chancy and the success rate varies. In my area, I get the therapy for a very low rate, as I am the patient of grad students in the local U's program. I highly recommend this to anyone who can find it and afford it.

[SuzanneBender]

I like the system by Kathy Perez and Lynn Jenkins. I met them at a conference a couple of years ago and started practicing their techniques and it really has helped. No matter what route you go you will need practice. The femme voice is about a whole lot more than simply higher pitch which is all surgery will get you.

I like Faith's comment about internal monologue. Its true if the voice in your head is female it will be easier to make the voice coming out of your mouth female.

[Katesback]

I like to tell girls that ask this question that if I pulled my gun out and pointed it at them and said talk like a girl or I pull the trigger I guarantee they would.

If your life depends on something you will invariably do it. If you have not figured out that your life does depend on a reasonable voice then it is odvious to me why you dont talk like a woman.

Katie

[CharleneT]

I like to tell girls that ask this question that if I pulled my gun out and pointed it at them and said talk like a girl or I pull the trigger I guarantee they would.

If your life depends on something you will invariably do it. If you have not figured out that your life does depend on a reasonable voice then it is odvious to me why you dont talk like a woman.

Katie

Well, I think that the base frequency of the voice of anyone on the other side of that pistol is gonna go up, male or female !!

You are right though, until you see it as a necessity, you probably won't fully commit to the changed voice. A flip side suggestion of mine is that until you start to really live in day to day society (having a regular job, socializing a lot etc etc), you won't understand how important it was to get it down right before going full time. Most discussions here about all sorts of surgeries, clothing walking etc. In truth most people can read you with their eyes closed if you do not have a decently gender appropriate voice.

[Nicole Erin]

Finding the female voice is not so difficult. It does take a lot of practice to perfect it and use it comfy.

The problem comes with things like yelling, or trying to talk like a femme when your voice is jacked up from a cold like mine is right now.

[CharleneT]

Finding the female voice is not so difficult. It does take a lot of practice to perfect it and use it comfy.

The problem comes with things like yelling, or trying to talk like a femme when your voice is jacked up from a cold like mine is right now.

Indeed those are hard, add to that list two nearly impossible to change things: coughing and clearing your throat.

[KateSpade83]

Does HRT help change your voice into a female one too?

[Melody Moore]

Does HRT help change your voice into a female one too?
NO - not with MtF Transsexuals it doesn't, only FtM Transsexuals experience a change in voice through hormones.

[Nicole Erin]

Remember too that even with the best MTF voices, it is not gonna be perfect anyways and you may still not like your own voice.
As long as it truely sounds more female than male you get by.

Some videos about changing voice have like all these long tedious boring things to do and maybe it does help but really just do and do some more.

[PetiteTonya]

I think that if one can truly just relax and not force yourself into a feminine timbre, it happens naturally at least that seems to work in my situation.

[Deborah_UK]

Well, some of you here want a sex change.

:rant:

I hate that phrase! I would have hoped that someone within the trans spectrum would have used a more acceptable phrase (preferably GRS) rather than that used by the unknowing general public

:Angry3:

[Stephenie S]

There is NO surgery that will change your voice from male to female. There are surgeons who will tell you they can change your voice, just like there are ads that tell you that if you drink a certain kind of beer, you will be popular and sexy.

Fortunately you CAN change your manner of speaking so that you sound more feminine. It's free. It just takes practice. You have to LISTEN to women. Remember, women are not BORN talking like that, they LEARN how to talk like that. They listen to their mothers, girlfriends, and other women. You can do the same. Listen to women talk. Repeat what they say. Practice. Forget pitch at first. It's not that important. There are LOTS of women with low voices. I'm one of them. I have a definite alto voice. So does Cher. So did Bea Aurther. So did Marlene Dietrich. No one confused their genders.

Practice. As Frances said, sounding feminine is important. People need to "read" you as female even in the dark.

This is not easy, but it is free, and you can do it all by yourself. Listen and repeat. Listen and repeat.

Going full time will help you more than you may think at first. When you are full time, you HAVE to use your feminine voice. You can't slip back into your comfy "guy" voice when it's convenient because you aren't a "guy" any more.