Tracking your voice in different contexts

Have you noticed how your voice and communication can change depending on the situation? How do you talk to a coworker, boss, classmate, friend, family member, coffee shop barista, or pet? What words do you use? How does your voice sound? How is your pitch and how do you move it around? How loud or quiet are you? How much do you talk? What is your communication style - direct? easy-going? something else? What is your body language like?

These questions relate to many of the factors that can affect your voice and communication in context, such as: Who you are talking to, what you are talking about, where you are talking, how long you are talking, what time of day it is, how you are feeling emotionally, how you are feeling physically, or what else might be on your mind in the moment.

Why does this matter? Well, keeping track of your interactions in different contexts can help to define what you want or need to change in terms of gender presentation. If you are considering voice modification, think about the situations you are in. What do you like or not like in terms of your voice generally, and which situations are less or more problematic for you?

And if you are already working on your voice, these kinds of questions can help you keep track of your progress. You may be pleasantly surprised that you are doing better than you think (!), and you can see what you still need to work on. If something didn't go well, what factors were at play? Was it hard to focus on your voice because of the topic? Or because you weren't feeling well? Understanding the WHY may help you juggle particular situations better as well as be kind to yourself if you were in a challenging situation.

The takeaway is that you communicate in complex contexts on a daily basis. Your ability to navigate social interactions as a speaker of natural language gives you a strong foundation to further modify your behavior intentionally and successfully for gender. So, if, at some point, you feel disappointed about how you modified your voice in a particular situation, remind yourself that just being human makes you flexible enough to give it a go next time.

Strained or tired voice? Sing through a straw!

Straw phonation, or making sound through a straw, is a common therapeutic exercise for vocal health problems such as vocal strain or tired voice. These symptoms can occur for a number of reasons, including strenuously modifying the voice for gender presentation, starting testosterone, speaking too much or too little, or speaking loudly for long periods. Having a poor audio set up on Zoom calls can sometimes lead to pushing the voice too hard as well.

-- How does it work? Straw phonation is a type of semi-occluded vocal tract (SOVT) exercise, meaning that it partially blocks the space of the upper airway during sound production. In this way, it creates resistance, sending energy back towards the vocal folds and establishing more balanced air pressure, which makes it easier for the vocal folds to vibrate efficiently, with less work. In an earlier blog post, I discussed lip trills, which is another excellent SOVT exercise that requires no props, but the straw has an added effect in that it lengthens the vocal tract (since the sound exits from the tip of the straw rather than your lips) and narrows the space of the upper airway (since the diameter is smaller than your mouth). Because of this, it can have varying effects depending on the size and length of the straw. SOVT exercises, when done properly, could potentially result in immediate improvement in vocal quality, power, endurance, and general ease in speaking or singing or manipulating the voice to reach and maintain different pitches, whether higher or lower.

-- How do you do it? Don't worry, you don't have to be a singer! You just need to be able to hold a note for a few seconds or hum a simple tune. Here are some options. Take a regular-sized straight straw, and…

• Blow "hoo" through the straw at a straight easy middle pitch for 8-10 seconds. And/or,

• Blow the Happy Birthday song or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or some other easy tune through the straw. Don't mouthe the words or use your tongue. Just blow "hoo" for every note of the song. And/or,

• Blow "hoo" through the straw with varying pitch like an ambulance siren or revving of a motorcycle for 8-10 seconds. And/or,

• After doing any of these exercises above in an easy middle pitch range, try them in a slightly higher or lower pitch range if your goal is to modify your range for speaking or singing. Go slowly to prevent voice breaks.

With each of these exercises, try to achieve the same effort as you would with your normal/habitual voice, not louder or quieter, and with easy effort, no hard blowing or pushing. Check that you are actually blowing air through the straw by putting your hand up near the end of the straw and feeling for air on your hand. You can also test that the air is appropriately exiting the straw rather than your nose by holding your nose while you blow. Or are you dizzy? Don't blow as hard or as long. If you feel you are doing it right, and it sounds and feels good after doing one or more of these exercises for a total of no more than 2-3 minutes, you can do it again for 2-3 minutes periodically throughout the day to relieve your vocal health symptom. You could also do it at the beginning of the day as a vocal warm-up, or before doing other voice practice. If you continue to experience problems, consider an online or in-person consultation with a voice-specialized speech-language pathologist or laryngologist.

Happy blowing!

Live Zoom discussion about voice

On Wednesday, June 10, 2020 at 1:00 pm EST, Lilia Koss of FACIALTEAM will host a FREE live Zoom event with myself, Christie Block, and my colleague, Christella Antoni, as special guests for a discussion about the nature of voice training for transfeminine speakers. Anyone who may be interested in or curious about feminine voice training is welcome to join us by clicking on this invite:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82591652611?pwd=cndoemV4aFRUeU5Uck91OE9lQmdhQT09

Zoom will require a password, which is "voice." All participants will be able to write questions or comments through Zoom during the event.

After airing, the event will be posted for viewing on FACIALTEAM’s YouTube channel. Just click here:

https://youtu.be/m9QXIlj-1Ko

Hope you can join us!

Voice tips when stuck at home

In this unsettling time of the Coronavirus pandemic, many of us are homebound and managing very difficult circumstances in varying degrees related to health, finances, isolation or lack of privacy, and/or family or work obligations. Whatever our particular stressors are, they can, at the very least, make it hard to focus, feel motivated, or keep up with regular routines. Our circumstances can also affect how much we talk, the way we talk, and how much privacy we have to talk. This blog post is designed to help you manage your voice and talking while homebound.

-- Keep practicing and talking. For those people who have worked hard to modify your voice up to now, it's important to keep practicing and using your voice to keep the momentum going. Without that, it could become more difficult to do your techniques or stay as consistent. If you haven't worked on your voice up to now, but you wish to, then hunkering down at home, if you have privacy, may be a good opportunity to get started! Consider one or more of these tips if you feel they apply to you:

• If you have a practice routine, keep it going by setting an alarm every day or doing it around another daily task, such as having breakfast.

• Do a voice exercise while washing your hands for 20 seconds, such as singing the Happy Birthday song or counting to 20.

• Try to mimic people on videos, TV, or movies that you are watching.

• Try some light singing for fun.

• Find a buddy to practice with on the phone or online.

• If you don't feel that your room is private enough, try running some type of noise (e.g. music or a white noise app on your phone) from OUTSIDE of your door, which can make it very difficult for others to hear you.

• Try to talk in your best modified voice with your friends, family, and/or online community. If that seems daunting, try to nail just the first few sentences of an interaction.

• Try your best, but don’t be hard on yourself!

• If you have a voice trainer, book an online session if you can, even just for a refresher.

-- Be strategic when talking on video. Using particular tools and video set-up can help to achieve efficient voicing and gender techniques. Consider these tips:

• Play a pitch app, such as Voice Analyst for the phone or VoicePrint for the computer, to watch your average pitch in real time while you are talking on video.

• Put a post-it with a voice reminder on your computer monitor.

• If you don't like looking at yourself while video chatting, many video chat platforms allow you to turn off the self-view window.

• Use a face-filtering tool like Snap Camera or wear certain clothing (within or outside of the view of the camera) to help enhance the gendered aspects of how you want to look and feel, which can have a positive impact on how you talk.

• Do your video chat in a quiet room and try to not speak quieter or louder than you would if you were having an in-person conversation.

• Sit upright with your back straight, aiming your voice straight ahead at the camera to allow you to best manage your voice.

• Wear headphones over one ear only (so you can hear yourself and your conversation partner, but also hear how you sound in the room) as well as a microphone that is a few inches from your mouth.

-- Protect your voice if you feel vocal strain or throat discomfort. Voice problems can occur from inefficient vocal techniques, speaking too much or too little, or speaking loudly for long periods.

• Do a few lip trills (aka raspberries) at an easy pitch.

• Blow an easy song through a straw onto your hand (Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) - say "hoo" for every syllable.

• Try a salt water gargle if your throat hurts.

• If you are talking a lot, take voice breaks between conversations.

• If you are modifying your voice in a way that creates strain, try a different technique if you can.

• Do an online consultation with a voice-specialized speech-language pathologist or laryngologist if your symptoms don't improve.

You likely have considered and tried some of the above strategies already. If not, perhaps some of these will come in handy. More than ever, be kind to yourself. Please take care, everyone, and hang in there!