Eighteen years ago I discovered a voice classification in Hertz (Hertz (Hz) = unit of frequency measurement) in a small paragraph inside a book dealing with vocal evaluation. This classification divided voices into 3 columns: female voice, male voice and transsexual voice. Each of them indicated a frequency range.
This classification was to change my life forever, since it was from there that I began to orient my final year work towards the search for a speech therapy methodology to feminize the voice.
This simple classification made me question, on the one hand, my ability to modify a voice at such a deep level as identity and, on the other hand, whether such a closed and universal representation was really necessary or relevant within the voice feminization training.
The voice and its close link with our emotions
One of the elements that struck me the most was the fact that it was not specified whether the data had been collected taking into account the subjects’ moods.
Emotions affect the color of our voice and the way we express ourselves. However, it is not only emotions that affect the voice, but also age, hormonal variations such as menstruation or menopause, certain vocal health factors such as allergies, asthma, etc., among others.
This Herzian categorization of voices is, nowadays, inappropriate and obsolete for any specialist in Speech Therapy. From my point of view, and according to my professional experience, this classification should not represent at any time an identity imposition or obligation.
Although variables of this type can be used to define pathological spectra, within the field of voice feminization, imposing a range or frequency band to determine the degree of femininity of a voice has no reason to be, since it can produce an important form of frustration for people in transition.
Fundamental frequency
Within this categorization, voices are classified according to the average frequency that women and men habitually use in speech (woman = woman-vagina and man = man-penis).
Two important notions should be noted:
– On the one hand, the notion of fundamental frequency, namely the average note we speak about.
– On the other hand, the notion of vowel extension, which encompasses the set of notes we use in a speech.
During voice feminization training, vocal extension is the most important. The fundamental frequency, on the other hand, lacks importance within the methodology.
It should be noted that the concept of fundamental frequency has done much harm to transgender women over the past decades, as it is a frustrating, meaningless and limiting notion.
It is utterly absurd to evaluate the femininity of a voice and speech by considering only the average frequency over which we speak. That would be tantamount to reducing femininity to a mere high note.
The voice as a tool for liberalization
No figures will be transmitted in this article, because we reject the idea that any measurement of voice, femininity, identity or any categorization that limits human beings to units of measurement that do not take into account their own human and emotional nature. The voice is perceived, felt, moved, transmits a message, an intention.
We are all different and taking into account classifications of this type would be the same as limiting our spontaneity, our specificity, our personality, our identity. We are unique, and therefore, we should not limit ourselves but, on the contrary, we should FREE ourselves.
For these reasons, I reject any categorization of voice that limits identity. I also reject the notion of gender, as I think gender is a binary defense reaction to social pressure and therefore unnecessary.
Abolition of the binary classification of voices.
It is important to abandon this Hercynian classification in order to allow each of us to express our identity as it is, in order to liberate our way of perceiving the world and thus renew our spontaneity. Only in this way will he leave aside all those rules that impose him to be this or that way, abolish borders and allow himself to go beyond the established to build a new vocal terrain of which he will be the only owner.
In this way we will see a true evolution from a vocal and expressive point of view, allowing everyone in this world to express themselves in a freer and more personalized way.
The voice is not only a sonorous manifestation, but reflects, affirms and informs about who we are and what is our inner universe, centered on our moods, our personality, our experiences and so on.
Eliminating the vocal classification would give back to the human being his right to exist and to go beyond the coded limitations in terms of self-expression and perception of the world around him.
How to feminize a voice without frequency reference?
During my sessions I use an application called Voice Tools. This application allows the trainee to visualize his/her voice in order to be able to act directly on it thanks to a real-time visual and frequency representation of the sound emission.
It is not a matter of transferring the fundamental frequency from a blue zone to a pink zone (binary and stereotyped representation), but of helping the learner to develop a mental representation of his/her vocal dynamics and gesture. This application also allows to develop vocal extension and to assimilate the concept of melody.
This type of tool is very useful in the execution of some voice feminization exercises, since the graphical and mental representation helps the trainees to modify their vocal gestures by themselves and to correct some aspects.
To this day, I never separate in a binary way the concepts trained during the sessions, despite using numerical indicators proposed in the application, although it would be equally useful to create an application without stereotyped colors and numbers, since in the end, the starting point is always the perception of the sound and the effect of the laryngeal movement on the speech.
Experiencing and perceiving the vocal gesture from a muscular, acoustic and vibratory point of view is fundamental for the learner to master his/her voice and to act on his/her vocal production. Therefore, it is entirely possible to feminize a voice without numerical frequency markers and without binary categorization of voices, although certain tools can be used to support the training. Likewise, voice feminization training will be much more enriching and much less frustrating for the trainee without binary and stereotyped numerical markers.