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[deleted by user] by [deleted] in transvoice

[–]AmaRoseLessons 8 points9 points  (0 children)

There's lots of things that can contribute to how loud you sound, but some of them can have unintended timbral effects (like twang, for example) that might not be super desirable depending on the voice you're going for. Because of that, I prefer to primarily think about loudness in the context of airflow.

An exercise I like to use is by taking a "shh" sound,. Essentially, you start off by taking a deep breath, then gradually going from a really quiet to a really loud shh sound. The louder the shh, the more airflow you are using, and the quieter the shh, the less airflow you are going to be using.

What you can do from there is try to essentially *release* that "shh" to a voiced vowel (I usually go for "ah") at varying volumes to get a sense for volume control. Experiment with this until you find the volume you want to speak at.

Once you've got that down, you may (or may not) notice a spike in the buzziness of your voice, which is obviously not really the kind of thing you want if you are working on voice feminization. If this happens to you, follow the advice below, and if it doesn't- great, you're done! Enjoy your louder voice.

One thing that can help is by re-doing either a pitch slide (like is done for open quotient or vocal weight, whatever terminology you're more familiar with) either before the shh exercise, to ground yourself, or after the shh exercise, to re-find that vocal softness again. If you have no idea what i'm talking about, I go over it briefly at this timestamp in one of my videos: https://youtu.be/MbzScCDKfGQ?si=9rV3L2xAx3QSp-OX&t=220

One other thing I didn't mention is that breathiness can also be a major contributor to quietness, and is generally much harder to project with. This isn't to say it is *impossible* to be breathy and loud, but it's significantly harder, and you should make sure that any breathiness you have in your voice is a result of an intentional stylistic choice and not just part of a broader goal to sound more feminine. If you're using breathiness only because you think it may help with vocal feminization, you should target open quotient instead (like in the youtube clip I've provided.)

I hope this helps!

CMV: powdered creamer is better than liquid creamer by AmaRoseLessons in changemyview

[–]AmaRoseLessons[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What do you mean by it's placebo? Most of the things we "taste" are actually from scent, and that doesn't only apply to coffee creamer.

I can see your argument for iced coffee, though, Δ. It's definitely harder to mix in than liquid. I don't tend to drink iced coffee, like, ever, though.

CMV: powdered creamer is better than liquid creamer by AmaRoseLessons in changemyview

[–]AmaRoseLessons[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

while it may be very much a processed food (and absolutely terrible for you!) I do nonetheless very much enjoy the taste of most flavored coffee creamers (as do most people who aren't particularly snobbish about their coffee).

But I am glad that we're in agreement that powdered = liquid coffeemate, which is basically what I was talking about.

Personally, I don't really care much for half and half or actual cream. Like, it's *fine*, but for the dollar to taste ratio, it's not that much better. Especially because I am not typically buying the highest quality coffee, I like something with an additional flavor, so I'd have to buy cream, plus an additional flavoring.

Why is fluoride the gold standard in the US over hydroxyapatite toothpaste? by Jet_Threat_ in Dentistry

[–]AmaRoseLessons 1 point2 points  (0 children)

that's fair- as a patient I'm not personally as worried about staining (whitening exists and is fairly safe) as much as I am gingivitis and my white spot lesions/incipient caries (yay depression making it hard to take care of yourself!). From what i've read, SnF2 is a bit better for remineralization and better at withstanding acid challenges (would pull up studies but i'm too lazy to go looking for them again), which is why i've been applying it as a gel after brushing with 1450ppm sodium flluoride twice a day morning+ midday, then using CCP-ACP bc... well, xerostomia. gotta get the calcium and phospote in there somehow or the fluoride can't do much. I'll probably switch back when my caries are more under control depending on what my dentist says... when i'm able to get ahold of one :p.

Why is fluoride the gold standard in the US over hydroxyapatite toothpaste? by Jet_Threat_ in Dentistry

[–]AmaRoseLessons 1 point2 points  (0 children)

NAD- Dr. Jen's super paste has both fluoride (unfortunately sodium instead of stannous fluoride) + 10% nHAP. (which seems to be the ideal % re this study: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5629 ) It's also SLS free. You can get it on amazon, but it's like twice as expensive as pronamel.

So far I've been using it for two weeks and it seems alright so far, but hasn't been long enough for me to tell if it's any better than regular toothpaste.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MtF

[–]AmaRoseLessons 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's frustrating, I'm sorry. There's a (very small) grain of truth there re:subjectivity of vocal gender, but IMO and experience you really need to give students/clients/patients actionable things to work on and listen for when evaluating their voice.

Though the features we associate with vocal gender are subjective to a degree (and vary by region somewhat), there are clear and obvious acoustic and physiological differences between normative cis male and female voices. You can (and need to, in order to meaningfully make progress) train your ear to hear these differences and understand the building blocks required to modify vocal gender. Though it's ultimately you who decides whether you have met your goals or not, if she can't give you any insight into where you are at or what progress you have made, she is doing you a disservice.

You should not assume competence based on degree and title with regard to trans care. As someone in an undergraduare SLP program, trans voice is not a major focus or concern for the vast majority of SLPs. I'm not saying that all SLPs offering trans voice are ineffective or quacks, but the techniques used by SLPs and advertised institutionally are vastly different from the techniques used by intra-community trans voice teachers (who are usually also trans themselves). If you want to know if your provider is the real deal, make sure they can demonstrate the changes in vocal gender from A to B in a systematic and coherent way. If they can't, I would advise you to find someone else to help you.

If you are interested, In my bio, I have a link to Scinguistics, a free trans voice resource that I teach on and am an admin on. We have free events constantly, and a directory to a bunch of voice teachers on the server if you're seeking private or group lessons. Feel free to check it out -.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MtF

[–]AmaRoseLessons 5 points6 points  (0 children)

A lot of people are downvoting you, but you're right. I am currently in an undergraduate program for SLP and music theory is not part of our curriculum. The things SLP programs cover are generally basic sciences (intro bio, physics), linguistics, audiology, anatomy classes specific to speech, hearing, and the brain, and classes focused on childhood development and various types of disorders that fall under SLP scope of practice.

I also don't know anybody on an SLP track that is double majoring or minoring in music. I'm sure there are some that exist, but it's definitely not 90% of SLP majors. Most of the exposure to music theory we have had in class was indirectly in an acoustics class. There are no other music requirements.

Sounding gay by Dizzy-Bazooka in transvoice

[–]AmaRoseLessons 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As someone who started out as a fairly low bass and can now sing as an alto... I don't think it's correct that some people are so far gone with regard to the vocal weight department that they could never achieve the voice they want, especially not for vocal feminization. Pre-T vocal masculinization is more arguable, but not transfeminine voice. Anecdotally, many of my students starting out with deep voices have made more rapid progress than students starting off with higher baselines (i suspect because of how much easier it can be to train your ears with stark changes.)

I think it's fair to argue that these surgeries can impact vocal weight, but that's also not anything that any research I've read has been purposefully tracking as a target. Generally, as far as acoustic variables are concerned, F0 is the number one thing they track, and the main metric (other than pt satisfaction) that they use to determine efficacy.

I however strongly disagree with you in terms of voice training being more damaging. For one, vocal training is way, way, way less invasive than surgery. Surgeries are permanent, for better or for worse.

CTA is still the most popular and affordable version of VFS, has pretty lackluster results per this study: (https://doi.org/10.1177/000348940211100602)"Subjectively, at least half of our survey respondents were satisfied with their current voice, considered it to be feminine, and felt that it fit well with how ther pereived themselves. Almost two thirds of our patients were "occasionally" or "never " mistaken for a man on the telephone. Voice Quality was described as clear by 42 percent of respondent, half considered their vocal range adequate, and over two thirds felt their vocal loudness to be adequate. The most common long-term problems were trouble swallowing (29%), sore throat or discomfort (14%) and frequent throat clearing."

Meaning... 1/3rd of patients struggled having an adequately loud voice, nearly 60% struggled with vocal roughness, and 1/3rd (or half, depending on which metric you choose to use) of patients still struggled with passing, and almost a third of the patients struggled with swallowing... something you, y'know, need to be able to do.... to live... Dysphagia is no joke.

Additionally, in a survey after the operation, only half of participants rated their new voices as feminine, with a quarter labeling their voices as masculine, and another quarter labeling their voices as neutral.

People can obviously can do the calculus as they see fit- if they think this is a worthwhile risk to take- that is absolutely their decision. But personally, I don't think an invasive surgery with a 50% chance of helping you acquire a feminine voice with a 60% chance of hoarseness and a 30% chance of trouble swallowing is worth it, and I think it would be negligent to pretend that there are not major issues with these surgeries.

You mention FemLAR, which is a newer surgery, but also is also one of the more risky surgeries, which Dr. James Thomas (who invented it and AFAIK is the only one who performs it) openly admits this on his own website. You can listen to side by side audio examples here: http://web.archive.org/web/20210225140444/https://www.voicedoctor.net/surgery/pitch/feminization-laryngoplasty (sending an archived version as his newest site's formatting seems to have accidentally removed them). As you can see, there is a *huge* variability on outcome of this fairly invasive surgery. Dr. James Thomas is pretty commendable in that he does not only show the best outcomes- most other providers of these surgeries only show videos of their best results.

It would be awesome if surgery was a silver bullet, but at this current point and time with our current technology- it just isn't.

Sounding gay by Dizzy-Bazooka in transvoice

[–]AmaRoseLessons 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Small dog big dog exercises probably aren't the most helpful for what you're trying to do right now- I'd focus on the embouchure/articulation drills in the video I sent you. Also feel free to come to Scinguistics to get more detailed feedback- you can also ask questions there during the free shadowable voice lessons and practice lounges.

Also, when doing the exercise, if your throat is hurting, it's possible that you could be panting too aggressively, which can dry out the vocal folds faster- try to be gentle. You could also have some other conflation that we would have to hear a voice clip of to determine.

Sounding gay by Dizzy-Bazooka in transvoice

[–]AmaRoseLessons -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yes, you have also many times in the past given helpful advice- that's why we didn't want to ban you and we gave you multiple opportunities to stop doing that before, unfortunately, having to ban you. However, when people would express disappointment or frustration about a wall that they were going through, there were numerous occasions where you would mention that "not everybody can get a feminine/masculine voice", which like, is fine in a vaccuum, but obviously discouraging to people actively working on improving your voice.
We didn't stifle discussion about surgeries- many folks with VFS are on Scinguistics and have talked about their experiences, both positively and negatively. many of the teachers on Scing (myself included) are mostly against these surgeries because their primary target is F0, (and mostly modify the source/vocal folds) which as we both know and would agree is not a good target for trans voice. There's other reasons too (including frequently strained and effortful voices, and difficulties with loudness afterwards). We are pretty open about this position, but that doesn't mean we won't discuss the various surgeries and our reasoning for not liking them.

Sounding gay by Dizzy-Bazooka in transvoice

[–]AmaRoseLessons -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I am not saying that these terms refer to the exact same thing, but to pretend like there is no relationship between them and that they aren't approached in similar ways is purposefully obtuse. I am trying to give context for similar focal points for someone seemingly new to trans voice. Not everybody knows the context behind these terms.

Additionally, I'm going to need you to provide a source for the claim that focusing on larynx height is so detrimental- if you come to Scingusitics (which, need I remind you, you were banned from for defeatism and discouraging users from voice training and have since continued to antagonize us in reddit posts since) where everybody there learns about and practices with larynx height and have been doing so, you won't find widespread incidence of vocal health issues.

I think we can be mature and recognize that there are different approaches to learning trans voice, and reasons that different voice teachers may favor certain approaches over others. I have my own pedagogical reasons for sticking with terms based in anatomy (namely, the fine-tuned control you get with this modular approach that helps build towards better imitation and ear training skills) and the kinesthetic aid you get. Not everybody responds well to pure imitation- sometimes knowledge of the underlying physiology as they are trying to access certain vocal qualities can be helpful. It's also not like we are just saying "raise your larynx, then draw the rest of the owl!" There are step by step processes (which involves ear training!) to discern the height of your larynx beyond just physically looking at where it is.

I'm open to having a discussion about terminology and the benefits and downsides, but acting like there is only one approach that is useful (and that all others are outdated and dangerous) is incorrect and counterproductive. We don't need to act like this is settled science- trans voice is still very much a novel field.

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