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

TLDR

Voice therapy during male‑to‑female transition typically targets acoustic measures of voice. The authors propose that self‑perception of femininity could serve as a valuable metric for clinical protocols and research on treatment efficacy. They collected speech samples from 20 male‑to‑female transgender speakers and 10 cisgender speakers, which were evaluated by the speakers themselves and by 25 listeners. The results showed that speakers’ mean fundamental frequency and semitone range, but not perturbations, were strongly associated with both speaker‑ and listener‑rated femininity, and that listener‑rated femininity closely matched speakers’ self‑rated femininity, providing guidance for incorporating self‑perceptions into voice therapy. Keywords: transgender perception, voice, femininity, vocal feminization therapy.

Abstract

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. KEYWORDS: Transgenderperceptionvoicefemininityvocal feminization therapy