Voice therapy can improve voice quality During voice therapy, an SLP can help you re-learn to use your voice in a way that reduces symptoms and any possible impact on your vocal cords. The SLP will begin by evaluating the quality of your speech and evaluating you for a voice disorder. Voice surgery for transgender people generally focuses on a change in tone. For the feminization of the voice, the goal of surgery is to increase the usual tone when speaking and reduce the ability to produce a low voice.
This means that surgery will reduce the overall tone range of the voice. There is also a risk that surgery will cause your voice to become too loud or so harsh, hoarseness, tense, or breathing that it makes it difficult to communicate. The results of most feminization of voice surgeries are permanent. Changing your voice and the way you talk to others can take some time.
SLPs can help you communicate in a way that seems authentic. Changes in voice, speech, and communication involve the use of the voice production mechanism in new, unusual, and often unknown ways. However, talking to a surgeon, mental health provider, and speech-language specialist can help you make a fully informed decision about the timing and implications of surgery in the context of your social transition. Gender-affirming voice care may include speech therapy aimed at feminizing, neutralizing, or masculinizing voice and speech.
The American Speech, Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national professional, scientific and accrediting association with 223,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists, speech-language pathologists, speech-language pathologists, speech, language and hearing scientists; support staff in audiology and speech-language pathology; and students. A specialist can help you determine your goals and create an individualized plan, as well as show you how to avoid vocal damage by changing your voice and speech. After surgery, you'll have follow-up visits with a speech therapist to get the most out of the surgery, protect your vocal health, and learn to use your changed voice.
