The influence of Microgynon® and Diane-35®, two sub-fifty ovulation inhibitors, on voice function in women

The Effects of a Third Generation Combined Oral Contraceptive Pill on the Classical Singing Voice

“…Professional female voice users were advised in the 1980s to avoid the intake of OCPs, and those who were taking an OCP were advised to have regular phoniatric examinations. [1][2][3][4][5] This was because testosterone and other androgenic substances have adverse effects on the female singing voice, altering the length and extensibility of the connective tissue of the vocal folds and the vocal ligaments that allow the production of different registers during voice production. 6,7 More recent third generation OCPs have been found not to induce such negative effects on the speaking vocal mechanism of healthy women.…”

Investigating The Relationship Between Sexual Hormones And Female Western Classical Singing

“…The authors hypothesised a swelling of the vocal folds under the influence of synthetic progestogens; however, an increased mass of the vocal folds could not be demonstrated. Another OCP, Ovosiston ® , containing 2 mg Chlormadione acetate and 0.1 mg mestranol, was also associated with virilisation of the voice (Wendler et al, 1995).…”

“…On the other hand, recent studies have been unable to find any effects of OCP use in voice quality. In a study by Wendler et al (1995), the effects of two different OCPs on voice quality were assessed: Diane-35 ® (0.035 mg ethinylestradiol and 2 mg cyproterone) and Microgynon ® (0.03 mg ethinylestradiol and 0.15 mg levonorgestrel). The study assessed the mean speaking frequency, pitch range, voice range profile and sound quality coefficient for women who were non-singers, aged between 18 and 35 years old, during thirteen cycles.…”

“…These findings lead us to believe that, with the pharmacological evolution of the new OCPs, side effects on the voice have been reduced. However, the authors still advise monitoring of professional voice users who take OCPs (Wendler et al, 1995).…”

Oral contraceptive pill containing drospirenone and the professional voice: An electrolaryngographic analysis

“…The authors believed that with the pharmacological evolution of this type of contraceptive method, vocal side-effects have been reduced. However, they recommended constant monitoring of the professional voice during OCP use (7). Additionally, comparative studies assessing the effects of different OCP preparations on vocal pitch and acoustic measures of vocal stability, between women using different OCP preparations and women not using OCPs, could not find significant differences between groups for the analysed acoustic parameters: 1) fundamental frequency and fundamental frequency standard deviation for connected speech (8); 2) fundamental frequency, shimmer, jitter, harmonics-to-noise ratio (9); 3) fundamental frequency, jitter, relative average perturbation, amplitude perturbation quotient, pitch period perturbation quotient (10); and 4) voice onset time (VOT) for both /b/ and /p/ phonemes (11).…”