Vocal feminization offered to transgender women – Analysis of current speech therapy practices

Abstract

Currently, there are only few specific techniques of vocal feminization. However, speech therapists may offer this type of care to respond some transgender women’s complaint about their voice, which may be perceived as masculine. The objective of this study was to identify and evaluate the current clinical speech-therapy practices in this field.

Based on the literature and with the help of experienced speech-therapists, a therapeutic protocol was designed, reflecting clinical practices. This protocol was offered to five transgender patients (MtF). In order to evaluate this protocol, we used a Single Case Experimental Design: the effects of the intervention were evaluated through repeated measures, to keep track of each patient’s evolution. Moreover, the patients’ satisfaction concerning their own voice was assessed by means of a subjective rating scale.

The outcomes of this study revealed that our clinical intervention can lead to raise the fundamental frequency and the vowel formants’ values. Likewise, the vocal range also seemed to increase. However, the large inter-individual variability did not confirm the observed trends. Besides, the subjective evaluation’s results showed that the patients are more satisfied with their voice, following specific therapy.

Although we could not draw any tangible conclusions of the acoustic results, the increased patients’ satisfaction allows us to suggest that this therapeutic protocol is a relevant response to the specific complaint of transgender women.