Effectiveness of Speech Therapy in Trans Women.

One of the greatest hurdles in the transition of transgender persons is that voice, speech and communication are not congruent with the desired gender. Since hormone treatment does not affect the voice in male-to-female transgender persons (trans women), speech therapy is the treatment of choice to develop a more feminine communication. Speech therapy must focus on aspects of communication that play an important role in listener perceptions of the speakers gender. Results of a systematic review and meta-analysis showed that those aspects are primarily fundamental frequency of the voice and resonance. However, effectiveness studies of speech interventions in transwomen are extremely limited and show methodological limitations. The purpose of this project is to investigate the short-term and longterm impact of speech exercises for pitch and resonance on (a) acoustic voice characteristics, (b) listener perceptions of femininity using a visual analogue scale and binary gender identification (male versus female voice), and (c) self-perception and psychosocial functioning in trans women using a randomized sham-controlled trial and cross-over design.