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Transgender men and women and their voice

Date: 24th July 2015

Posted on: 24-07-2015

Caitlyn Jenner has brought attention to an issue that many transgender men and women worry about after completing their transition: the sound and pitch of their voice.
The former Olympic athlete called on people to focus their attention on her message, not her voice, in a blog post explaining why she felt unhappy with the way she sounds after listening to her acceptance speech at ESPN’s annual ESPYs ceremony.

This week Caitlyn has brought the attention to an important issue, the sound and pitch of the voice of transgender people. Jenner vowed to engender greater acceptance for the transgender community by sharing her experiences as a transgender woman in her powerful address. She said: Jenner said “While I felt like I looked great and that the gown looked fabulous, I still have a voice issue. It’s not quite right compared to my feminine appearance. That bothers me a little bit. I hope that people don’t listen to the pitch of my voice, but listen to what I have to say. That’s important to me.”

Bernard Reed OBE, a trustee of the Gender Identity, Research and Education Society told to Independent: “Trans people who undergo the transition from living as a man to living as woman quite often need help with their voices because women generally speak in a higher register and their speech patterns, as well as the whole way in which they communicate, are different to men. You cannot raise the pitch of the voice with hormones. However, a huge amount can be done through speech therapy. Also, it is possible to alter the pitch through surgery but typically that is only provided after an extended period of voice coaching, and even after you’ve had it you may still need further voice coaching.”

At a previous ASLTIP conference, ASLTIP member Heidi Dequincy did a great lightning talk about her work with transgender clients. Here you can view the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0_ITNyiQJU&feature=youtu.be

At ASLTIP there are a number of members that list working with transgender clients as a specialism – you can find them all here: http://www.helpwithtalking.com/Member-Directory-specialty-23

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/caitlyn-jenner-blogs-about-voice-issues-after-hearing-her-espy-speech-i-hope-people-listen-to-my-message-not-my-voice-10408376.html
 

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