"Quote"
"It's funny that almost all speech
therapists that help male-to-female transsexuals tend to be female - next
time you see your speech therapist ask them to sound like a convincing
man. If they are Male - Jackpot! - see if they can sound convincingly female
and watch them cringe! Then you could seriously say they are all talk!"
(Transgender Zone Discussion)
Introduction
Voice quality plays an essential role in speech communication. It can
help or hinder intelligibility and is a rich source of information
with linguistic, cultural and family determinants.
Location
You accent can be an advantage or
disadvantage for example a voice of Caribbean origins may be deeper in pitch than that of a
European counterpart this can be an advantage for black transgender people.
A welsh voice can sound more 'sing-songy' and be slightly higher by force of
habit and dialect. So pitch and strength of voice can be very different
yet sound feminine. And regional variations also apply.
Other influences
Smoking and medication can also affect the voice
Loudness of the voice will also have an effect on perceived voice quality.
Physiological, cultural and linguistic factors may operate independently,
and voice quality can be modified to meet social needs.
Taking female Hormones will not return your voice
to a prepubescent
state - unlike the notable mascualinizing effects that male hormones with female-to-Male transgender
people have!
SRS (Surgery) will not affect the voice either. The best way to improve
the femininity of your male voice is by vocal exercise and practice.
Techniques
Pitch Shifting
Singing scales - La la la la la la LA! LA LA LA LA la! Shifting your
pitch up and down!
The Larynx (voice box) can be felt shifting up and down as you sing your
scales. Place your hand gently against your Adam's Apple (Trachea). Now sing
again!
Feel it moving up and down? Ok now place your hand there again and
as you sing your scales attempt to keep your Adam's Apple up.
If you have access to a sound editing software and microphone - cool edit
for example - then you can try and hit the pitch exactly. Between 150-300hz
or about the G middle C. Goldwave is a good free software package. Goldwave.com
You could also like to try some software
created by a friend of transgenderzone.com This Voice Recording Software by
Becky Rose at Bansheestudios records your voice and plays it back - which is
nothing special in itself - the special bit is that you do this simply by
pressing and releasing the space key which allows you to work so much
faster, and focus on your voice rather than the interface of a more complex
sound program.
http://www.bansheestudios.com/tranvoice.zip
Thanks Becky for this nifty little bit of
free software :)
Breathing over words -slightly!
This can be a useful technique, if you do drag then you can go for it!
But realistically you must just apply this ever so gently to your speech. It
is essential you avoid whispering but at the same time that tinge of whisper
can soften a voice considerably!
Voice quality is a multi-dimensional component of fluent speech
determined both culturally and physiologically. A study of the voices of
forty four 20-year-old female speakers of British English demonstrated Both physical and anecdotal evidence suggests that young female speakers
have breathier voices than men, with a tendency for increased breathiness at higher
pitches. And breathier at the higher end of their fundamental frequency ranges
in connected speech:
However, voice quality varies with social situation and speaking task, and the correlation of breathiness
with fundamental frequency may be task-dependent. In particular, findings for sustained vowels may
not hold when connected speech is examined. Shorter contact ratios correlate with breathy voice
quality.
The tongue is higher and flatter for female than for male. This gives 'dental' sounds (ones that involve the teeth, like T and D) a softer, breathier, almost sibilant quality in the female. Say 'tttt' in male mode, then 'ssss'; find the halfway position, that is the female position for the letters T and D; likewise for a TH sound, etc. Use plenty of air to get a breathy sound.
Marilyn Monroe's breathless speech can if toned down really help feminize
speech listen to her here 
Listen to a
Marilyn
Monroe sound file here!
Raising the end of a sentence
Although this is context specific (and
accent dependent) highering your pitch at the end of a sentance is a good habit for
M-T-F transgender speakers. It also 'lightens' your delivery tending to make you smile more.
Try this:
Top Tips:
Avoid the camp voice - Julian Clary is a
nono
Concentrate more on thoughts and feelings,
whereas men concentrate on objects and actions. Men generally use more 'short cuts',
slang and swear.
Avoid sounding like Mickey Mouse
Avoid looking bashful and staring at your
feet!
Avoid whispering - although a semi-whisper
maybe all you can get to sound feminine - remember if people can't hear you
they will concentrate more on you rather than you speaking a bit deeper and
moving on quickly.
Keep you mouth less open - ahhhhhhhhh! Becomes ohhhhhhhhh!
Don't Shout! You can speak loudly, but
anger is a dead give away!
Slow down the speed you speak a little -
this not only gives you time to think it also sounds more considered.
Mix Body Language with the way you speak click
here for information on how this can help :)
Start and end sentences slowly and gently
Push your speech up into the top of the
throat away from the chest.
Record yourself speaking or ask friends to
comment - don't be offended if they say negative things - this will take
time to get right!
Citation: References[1]Markham,D. and Hazan,V., “The Perception of Speaker Variability by Adults and Children.”in press ICSLP 2002[2]Linville,S.E. (2000) “The Aging Voice”, in Voice Quality Measurement, R.D.Kent and M.J.Ball, Eds., San Diego: Singular-Thomson Learning[3]Sodersten,M. and Lindestad,A. (1990) Glottal Closure and Perceived Breathiness DuringPhonation in Normally Speaking Subjects. JSHR, 33(3): 601-611.[4]Fourcin,A. 2002, “Patterns, Structure and Measurement in Voice
