Who or what has the capacity to influence voice production? Development of a transdisciplinary theoretical approach to clinical practice addressing voice and the communication of speaker socio-cultural positioning

Azul, David; Hancock, Adrienne B.

doi:10.1080/17549507.2019.1709544

Cited by 33 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In order to more accurately represent gender diversity in how we understand access to services, all types of gender positioning must be taken into account. This is challenging for large group of studies that obfuscate withingroup diversity, especially when one's positioning in a gender group is an ever-dynamic assemblage of many forces (Azul & Hancock, 2020).…”

Section: Intersectional Effects In Multiply Marginalized Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, when considering how verbal communication contributes to how one positions themselves in areas of sociocultural belonging (i.e., gender, race, class), one must acknowledge intersections of at least one dozen characteristics (de Vries, 2014) and an interplay of speaker, listener, and professional practices all mediated by supraindividual biocultural forces (Azul & Hancock, 2020). Additional speaker characteristics associated with poor outcomes that could be of interest include undocumented immigration status, incarceration status or history, experiencing poverty or homelessness, located in a rural area, and of young age living without support systems (Grant et al, 2011;James et al, 2016).…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Listening to Gender-Diverse People of Color: Barriers to Accessing Voice and Communication Care

Hancock

Downs

2021

Am J Speech Lang Pathol

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Purpose The purposes of this study are to gather and analyze perspectives of people from racial and gender minority groups in order to identify barriers to voice and communication services for these populations. Method In focus groups facilitated by community members, 11 people in racial and gender minority groups discussed their gender-related goals and accessibility of voice and communication services. Salient themes were derived using a grounded theory approach and analyzed using an access to care framework. Results During discussion of voice and communication as it relates to gender presentation, most utterances were speculations on the processes and potential outcomes of interventions for voice and communication; the majority of these were characterized as uninformed or misinformed. Conclusions Future studies will need to overcome barriers related to health literacy and beliefs in order to thoroughly assess potential interest or intentions regarding voice and communication services. Additional study is expected to provide valuable information that can be interpreted using the Levesque et al. (2013) framework of access to care and eventually eliminate barriers to voice and communication services for all.

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Section: Intersectional Effects In Multiply Marginalized Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Listening to Gender-Diverse People of Color: Barriers to Accessing Voice and Communication Care

Hancock

Downs

2021

Am J Speech Lang Pathol

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“…In contrast, some trans individuals may enter training with the goal of developing a voice and communication style that helps others perceive them in a certain way or attribute a certain gender to them in social interactions (e.g., a trans individual may wish for strangers to perceive them as a woman and address them using the pronouns "she/her"). Newer models of gender affirming speech pathology practice such as ASSEMBLE [11] acknowledge the complexity of working towards client goals that relate to listener perceptions and attributions of gender in communication. These models highlight that there are a range of social, cultural, and other forces at work within these interactions that contribute to inherently subjective listener judgements, many of which are beyond the control of the trans individual or the speech pathologist helping them make change [11].…”

Section: Client Goals In Gender Affirming Voice Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived Gender and Client Satisfaction in Transgender Voice Work: Comparing Self and Listener Rating Scales across a Training Program

Quinn

Oates

Dacakis³

2021

Folia Phoniatr Logop

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Background/Aim: Scales used to collect perceptual ratings related to a speaker’s gender are widely used in gender affirming voice training for trans individuals. Such scales may be used as outcome measures to gain insight into whether training has helped clients meet personal goals related to gender expression. These scales are also widely used in general research investigating the relationship between vocal characteristics and perceptions of speaker gender. However, past studies in these areas have varied in the terminology used to label rating scales and the impact of this variation is currently unknown. Additionally, research has not yet fully explored the relationship between self- and listener-ratings of trans participant voices and trans participant satisfaction with voice, and whether or not these relationships change after trans participants undertake gender affirming voice training. This research paper aimed to explore these relationships and address these research gaps. Methods: A group of 34 trans participants were asked to rate their voices before and after participating in gender affirming voice training. Trans participant voice samples from before and after training were also presented to a group of 25 listeners for rating. Perceptual ratings were made on two Visual Analogue Scales (VAS) with anchors ‘very feminine/very masculine’ and ‘very female/very male’. Trans participants also rated their satisfaction with their current voice on a VAS with anchors ‘very satisfied/very unsatisfied’. Correlation coefficients were calculated to investigate the relationship between collected ratings. Results: Differences in scale labels were found to have minimal impact on ratings made by both trans participants and listeners. Trans participant self-ratings were found to correlate with listener ratings, but this correlation was not strong Trans participant self-ratings had a consistently stronger relationship with their self-rated vocal satisfaction. The study contributed new findings that these differences may be more pronounced after trans participants have completed voice training. Discussion/conclusion: This study suggests that results from past studies that have used differently labelled scales to collect ratings related to gender perception based on voice are suitable to compare. This study also discusses the implications reported differences between trans participant self-ratings and listener ratings may have for research and clinical practice.

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“…Other communication characteristics, such as intonation, prosody, word choice, and speech patterns, can also convey gender to listeners, though there is less evidence to support these as targets for modification 11,13,14,16–18 . As described by Azul and Hancock, “many vocal behaviors… perceived as natural, automatic, or being shaped by the specific anatomy and physiology of an individual speaker's voice organ can be brought under the speaker's control.” 19 By learning strategies to consciously adjust these characteristics, individuals can “find and develop voice and communication that reflects the individual's sense of gender.” 11 In addition to addressing speaking identity and self‐perception, these strategies can also help individuals influence how their voice is perceived by others during vocal encounters, further improving gender congruence 20,21 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outcomes of Gender‐Affirming Voice and Communication Modification for Transgender Individuals

et al. 2021

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Objectives: Transgender individuals' voices are closely related to gender identity. A primary goal of gender-affirming voice modification is to help individuals alter their voices to improve gender congruence; however, there is a paucity of research to support this approach. This study aimed to evaluate the outcomes of a 12-week gender-affirming voice and communication modification program.Study Design: Retrospective cohort study. Methods: A retrospective consecutive case series of transgender women enrolled in a voice and communication modification program was performed. Demographics, Trans Woman Voice Questionnaire (TWVQ), fundamental frequency (F 0 ), and frequency range were collected before and after the program. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test assessed changes in outcomes. Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficients quantified associations between self-reported outcomes and acoustic measures.Results: A total of 16 trans women individuals were enrolled. The mean age was 31.5 years. After program completion, TWVQ improved 20.4 points, F 0 increased 26.5 Hz (spontaneous speech) and 25.7 Hz (reading), and the range increased 24.7 Hz (spontaneous speech) and 0.1 Hz (reading). None of the changes in acoustic measures significantly correlated with improvement in TWVQ scores in the cohort.Conclusion: Trans women experience improvements in self-reported outcomes and changes in acoustic measures after completing a gender-affirming voice and communication modification program. Individuals may experience significant improvement in subjective outcomes despite small changes in acoustic measures and vice versa.

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Who or what has the capacity to influence voice production? Development of a transdisciplinary theoretical approach to clinical practice addressing voice and the communication of speaker socio-cultural positioning

Cited by 33 publications

References 28 publications

Listening to Gender-Diverse People of Color: Barriers to Accessing Voice and Communication Care

Listening to Gender-Diverse People of Color: Barriers to Accessing Voice and Communication Care

Perceived Gender and Client Satisfaction in Transgender Voice Work: Comparing Self and Listener Rating Scales across a Training Program

Outcomes of Gender‐Affirming Voice and Communication Modification for Transgender Individuals

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