The Male-to-Female Transgender Voice

Most Salient Voice Parameters in Perceived Gender Identification

Authors

  • Emily Manny

Abstract

This review considers the question: what are the most salient vocal parameters to perception of a male-to-female transgender speaker as a passing female? Much of the current research suggests that speaking fundamental frequency must reach a certain level for the speaker to be perceived as a female by a naïve listener. If the speaker’s fundamental frequency lies in a determined ambiguous range, other parameters become more important cues to speaker gender. The next most-studied parameter is that of the first three formants of a speaker’s vowels, F1, F2, and F3. Studies suggest that biologically female resonance characteristics that can be achieved through therapy allow a speaker to produce the higher vowel formants associated with female speech. Nearly all research points to the possible implications of breathiness and intonation to gender perception as well, and while these are not as thoroughly researched, current findings imply that they also make minor contributions to a female-sounding voice. When standard measures for breathiness and intonation can be identified, researchers will more easily be able to support this claim with the importance of a certain level of breathiness or intonation to the perception of a speaker as a female.

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Published

2015-04-21

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Section

Articles