Table of Contents
Does HRT affect your singing voice?
What happens when a trans singer begins hormone therapy? I decided to find out. It turns out that yes, HRT does affect the voice, and it affects it differently depending on whether you’re transitioning to male or female — but not necessarily in the ways you might think.
Does sex affect your singing voice?
Conclusions. The human voice is strongly influenced by sex hormones throughout the lifespan, from childhood to senescence. As a secondary sexual characteristic, voice is deeply affected by sex hormone modifications, with substantial gender differences.
How does hormone therapy affect the voice?
The vocal folds thin as we age and, in women, this causes a drop in the pitch of the speaking voice. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) seems to prevent the lowering of speaking pitch by about 14 Hz (1.3 semitones). Both the non-HRT and the HRT voice still fall within the range of female speaking pitch.
How does testosterone affect your singing voice?
In teenage boys, increased testosterone production causes the vocal folds (vocal chords) to thicken, lengthen and mature. The cartilage of the larynx grows, further influencing the tone of voice. It also tilts slightly, resulting in a bump on the throat—the Adam’s apple.
Can Estrogen change your voice?
Oestrogen hormone therapy given to people transitioning into female will not have any effect on the vocal cords or the vocal tract. This can sometimes be disappointing news to some transgender females because they really hope (and understandably so) that it would help to make their voice higher or a bit lighter.
What hormones affect vocal cords?
The changing levels of several different hormones throughout our lives, such as estrogen, progesterone, growth and thyroid hormone, affect the quality of our voice by acting on the vocal anatomy, most prominently the larynx, otherwise known as the voice box.
How do hormones affect singing?
Hormone therapy results in significant lowering of the fundamental frequency, hoarseness in voice quality, difficulty in projecting the speaking and singing voices.
What causes change in voice?
The most common cause of a voice change later in life is aging of the voice box and the respiratory system that powers the voice. Aging may bring a loss of flexibility. The joints of the larynx may become stiff, and its cartilage may calcify.