The Role of Self- and Listener Perceptions of Femininity in Voice Therapy

Abstract

Voice therapy, especially during male-to-female transition, typically targets acoustic measures of voice. Self-perception of femininity may be a valuable measure to incorporate into clinical protocols and empirical investigations of treatment efficacy. Speech samples of 20 male-to-female transgender and 10 cisgender speakers were rated by speakers and 25 listeners. Mean fundamental frequency (Fo) and semitone range, but not perturbations, of the speaker's voice were strongly related to speaker-and listener-rated femininity. Listener-rated femininity strongly correlated with speaker's self-rated femininity. Results of this study provide guidance and methodology for incorporating the speaker's self-perceptions of overall and vocal femininity into voice therapy.

Voice Perceptions and Quality of Life of Transgender People

“…2,[25][26][27][28] This study complements previous research reports that subjective measures from clients and listeners may be valuable for evaluating the effectiveness of treatment in terms of how treatment influences voice-related QoL issues for transgender people. A transgender client's voice may have reached appropriate acoustic parameters for gender norms; however, would one discharge treatment if the client did not ''like'' his or her voice or if his or her QoL continued to be negatively impacted by his or her voice?…”

Associations between the Transsexual Voice Questionnaire (TVQMtF) and self‐report of voice femininity and acoustic voice measures

“…It may be that the MtF woman who perceives her voice as feminine is more likely to approach communication situations with a confidence that facilitates her ability to be perceived as a woman, and this in turn minimizes the impact of her voice on her everyday life. Further, given that a moderate positive relationship exists between listener and speaker perceptions of voice femininity (Owen and Hancock ), it may be that those who do not perceive their voice as feminine experience negative listener response and thus perceive greater impact (Byrne ).…”

What makes a voice masculine: Physiological and acoustical correlates of women's ratings of men's vocal masculinity

“…Finally, adults have been found to spontaneously modify sex-dimorphic acoustic cues (F0 and ΔF) in order to vary the expression of gender and related attributes in line with different roles and social (i.e. gender expression, dominance, sexual orientation) contexts Graddol and Swann, 1983;Puts et al, 2006), and this variation has a strong effect on the way listeners perceive the personality of speakers (Owen and Hancock, 2010;Puts et al, 2012;Van Bezooijen, 1995). Because variation in vocal masculinity is likely to have both biological and social sources, future studies should also include social measures of masculinity (i.e.…”