Gender Affirming Voice

Voice is extremely personal and plays a large part in how comfortable people are in their genders. Most often clients seek out Green Light’s services after attempting to change their voices via YouTube instructional videos. YouTube can be a great information source. However, videos addressing voice feminization or voice masculinization provide the same advice to all viewers. This generalized approach to voice therapy inherently conflicts with the personal nature of voice. 

Good voice therapy starts with a thorough evaluation, which includes questions regarding who the client is, how that client describes themselves, and how a person with the given description would communicate. For example, a client that is self described as a, “powerful, corporate, woman,” may want to speak with a higher pitch and at an elevated volume. 

I’ve had clients describe themselves in many different ways; and I have never heard the same self-description twice. Voice and communication goals should be unique to the individual and should reflect who that person is. Voice therapy is not simply about sounding more or less like a woman or man. It is about finding your optimal voice, a voice that accurately reflects who you are.