Transmasculine voice after laryngeal manipulation (Dahl et al., 2022)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure the short-term effects of circumlaryngeal massage and laryngeal reposturing on acoustic and perceptual characteristics of voice in transmasculine individuals.

Method: Fifteen transmasculine individuals underwent one session of sequential circumlaryngeal massage and laryngeal reposturing with a speech-language pathologist. Voice recordings were collected at three time points—baseline, postmassage, and postreposturing. Fundamental frequency (fo), formant frequencies, and relative fundamental frequency (RFF; an acoustic correlate of laryngeal tension) were measured. Estimates of vocal tract length (VTL) were derived from formant frequencies. Twelve listeners rated the perceived masculinity of participants’ voices at each time point. Repeated-measures analyses of variance measured the effect of time point on f_o, estimated VTL, RFF, and perceived voice masculinity. Significant effects were evaluated with post hoc Tukey’s tests.

Results: Between baseline and end of the session, f_o decreased, VTL increased, and participant voices were perceived as more masculine, all with statistically significant differences. RFF did not differ significantly at any time point. Outcomes were highly variable at the individual level.

Conclusion: Circumlaryngeal massage and laryngeal reposturing have short-term effects on select acoustic (f_o, estimated VTL) and perceptual characteristics (listener-assigned voice masculinity) of voice in transmasculine individuals.

Supplemental Material S1. Individual acoustic and perceptual outcomes for transmasculine speakers at three timepoints—baseline, after circumlaryngeal massage (post-massage) and after laryngeal reposturing (post-reposturing).

Dahl, K. L., François, F. A., Buckley, D. P., & Stepp, C. E. (2022). Voice and speech changes in transmasculine individuals following circumlaryngeal massage and laryngeal reposturing. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_AJSLP-21-00245