For the last ten months, I have been seeing a voice therapist for help feminizing my voice. At first, these were weekly appointments, but I am now at a point where I only see her once a month to help make small adjustments. For me, these lessons were essential. I was incapable of voice training on my own, I tried for months without any success prior to seeing a voice therapist. Having someone who could provide feedback and guidance was necessary for me personally. I am now at a relatively stable place in my voice training. I am quite content with my current voice and there are only a few more tweaks that I want to make.
I am quite happy with my current voice. It is definitely more feminine and softer than my previous voice. I can still hear aspects of my old voice that I am not a fan of, however, it is different enough that people thought I was someone else over the phone. At first, it was difficult to maintain this voice, but it has gotten easier with practice. Based on my experience, my voice is also pretty passable. I get gendered correctly over the phone nearly 100% of the time and have had no issues when using it at work or on errands.
I am only having one issue with my voice, a lack of volume. I am unable to raise my voice above speaking volume and maintain my feminine voice. When I try to speak louder, I either have to lower my pitch somewhat or nothing happens. This isn’t normally a problem, I am a pretty quiet person so it doesn’t affect me too much. However, my job has been recently been requiring me to give more presentations and required more involvement in large meetings, where my lack of volume is an issue. I often have people ask me to speak up when presenting, which I am not really able to do. The bigger issue is meetings. There are several incredibly loud people at my job and they will talk over everyone else in a room. The only way to get a word in is to be louder than them and I am completely incapable of doing so. Once people in a meeting start getting loud, I am pretty much locked out of any conversation.
Overall, I am very happy with how my voice has turned out. My voice is much more feminine than it was prior to voice training and it seems to be pretty passable. While lack of volume is an issue, it is ultimately a minor one. The inability to speak loudly is only relevant in a few work-related situations and frankly I much prefer being quiet. If being unable to speak loudly is the sacrifice for a more feminine voice, that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.
Natalie's Transition Diary 