Gender affirming voice and communication training is a service for clients (trans women, trans men, nonbinary) who wish to alter their sound and communication style. We provide education on how to create healthy voice habits and establish correct voice use. Evidence based exercises are taught to safely alter specific areas of voice which communicate gender: resonance, pitch and intonation patterns. For those who desire to address total communcation; coaching is offered on nonverbal and spoken language characteristics. Therapist incorporates regular feedback from client in order to help guide them to find the sound that feels most in line with their unique identity (since everyone's gender journey is different, this treatment is very individualized).
Voice evaluation appointments are scheduled for an hour to ensure adequate time to complete testing and address client concerns. Client will be provided with paperwork and participate in interview in order to complete thorough case history and clarify their communication goals. Clinician will then conduct recordings for acoustic testing as well as baseline speech samples.
Additional assessment of spoken language and nonverbal communication will be included. Nonverbal communication includes: posture, gait, gestures, facial expressions, physical presentation (hair, clothing), proxemics. Spoken language includes vocabulary, sentence structure and social use of language.
A personalized training plan will then be recommended to address client's goals. Clients who show signs of voice disorder may be referred to ENT for additional testing to confirm diagnosis prior to initiating treatment. Vocal health and establishing correct voice production is crucial for obtaining client's desired sound.
This service has also been called: Transgender Voice Coaching, Transgender Voice training, Transgender Voice Modification, Gender Affirming Voice Coaching, Voice Feminization, Voice Masculinization, Gender Spectrum Voice training