Comparison of acoustic and perceptual measures of voice in male-to-female transsexuals perceived as female versus those perceived as male
Summary
The present study explored significant differences between male-to-female transgendered speakers perceived as male and those perceived as female in terms of speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) and its variability, vowel formats for /a/ and /i/, and intonation measures. Fifteen individuals who identified themselves as male-to-female transsexuals served as speaker subjects, in addition to 6 biological female control subjects and 3 biological male control subjects. Each subject was recorded reading the Rainbow Passage and producing the isolated vowels /a/ and /i/. Twenty undergraduate psychology students served as listeners. Results indicated that subjects perceived as female had a higher mean SFF and higher upper limit of SFF than subjects perceived as male. A significant correlation between upper limit of SFF and ratings of femininity was achieved.
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Cited by (119)
Gender-Affirming Voice Training for Trans Women: Acoustic Outcomes and Their Associations With Listener Perceptions Related to Gender
2024, Journal of VoiceTo investigate acoustic outcomes of gender-affirming voice training for trans women wanting to develop a female sounding voice and to describe what happens acoustically when male sounding voices become more female sounding.
Prospective treatment study with repeated measures.
N = 74 trans women completed a voice training program of 8–12 sessions and had their voices audio recorded twice before and twice after training. Reference data were obtained from N = 40 cisgender speakers. Fundamental frequency (fo), formant frequencies (F1–F4), sound pressure level (Leq), and level difference between first and second harmonic (L1–L2) were extracted from a reading passage and spontaneous speech. N = 79 naive listeners provided gender-related ratings of participants’ audio recordings. A linear mixed-effects model was used to estimate average training effects. Individual level analyses determined how changes in acoustic data were related to listeners’ ratings.
Group data showed substantial training effects on fo (average, minimum, and maximum) and formant frequencies. Individual data demonstrated that many participants also increased Leq and some increased L1–L2. Measures that most strongly predicted listener ratings of a female sounding voice were: fo, average formant frequency, and Leq.
This is the largest prospective study reporting on acoustic outcomes of gender-affirming voice training for trans women. We confirm findings from previous smaller scale studies by demonstrating that listener perceptions of male and female sounding voices are related to acoustic voice features, and that voice training for trans women wanting to sound female is associated with desirable acoustic changes, indicating training effectiveness. Although acoustic measures can be a valuable indicator of training effectiveness, particularly from the perspective of clinicians and researchers, we contend that a combination of outcome measures, including client perspectives, are needed to provide comprehensive evaluation of gender-affirming voice training that is relevant for all stakeholders.
Auditory-Perceptual Assessment and Acoustic Analysis of Gender Expression in the Voice
2024, Journal of VoiceDetermine if acoustic measurements exist that are predictive of Auditory-Perceptual Assessment (APA) of gender expression in the voice of transgender, nonbinary, and cisgender Brazilian speakers by transgender, nonbinary, and cisgender judges, as well as speech-language pathologists in the area of voice studies.
Cross-sectional study. Clips of speech (automatic speech and expressive reading of poetry) and sustained vowel emission of people of different genders were recorded and underwent APA for gender expression in the voice using a visual analog scale across 100 points, ranging from very masculine to very feminine. Sixteen acoustic measurements were extracted (noise, perturbation, spectral, and cepstral measurements). A descriptive and inferential analysis was performed using interclass coefficients of correlation and stepwise multiple linear regression, considering P < 0.05 for statistical significance.
Forty-seven people of different genders had their voices recorded. The perceived gender of these voices was judged by 236 people (65 speech-language pathologists, 101 cisgender people, and 70 transgender and nonbinary people). The perceptions and measurements that were predictive of gender perception in the voice differed according to the task (vowel or speech) and the group of judges. The predictive acoustic measurements that were common in all groups were: speech—median F0, harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR), F0 standard deviation (F0sd), average width between F0 peaks, and spectral emphasis (Emph); vowels—median F0, HNR, F0sd, and average width between F0 peaks. Divergent measurements between groups were: speech—coefficient of variation of intensity, speech rate (Sr), minimum and maximum F0, jitter, and shimmer; vowels—coefficient of variation of intensity, Emph, Sr, and minimum and maximum F0.
There are acoustic measures that may predict APA; however, each group of judges considers different measures to evaluate gender, revealing an important influence of context on the evaluator in gender assessment through the voice.
Acoustic characterization and machine prediction of perceived masculinity and femininity in adults
2023, Speech CommunicationPrevious research has found that human voice can provide reliable information to be used for gender identification with a high level of accuracy. In social psychology, perceived masculinity and femininity (masculinity and femininity rated by humans) has often been considered an important feature when investigating the influence of vocal features on social behaviours. While previous studies have characterized the acoustic features that contributed to perceivers’ judgements of speakers’ masculinity or femininity, there is limited research on developing a machine masculinity/femininity scoring model and characterizing the independent acoustic factors that contribute to perceivers’ masculinity and femininity judgements. In this work, we first propose a machine scoring model of perceived masculinity/femininity based on the Extreme Random Forest and then characterize the independent and meaningful acoustic factors that contribute to perceivers’ judgements by using a correlation matrix based hierarchical clustering method. Our results show that the machine ratings of masculinity and femininity strongly correlated with the human ratings of masculinity and femininity when we used an optimal speech duration of 7 s, with a correlation coefficient of up to .63 for females and .77 for males. Nine independent clusters of acoustic measures were generated from our modelling of femininity judgements for female voices and eight clusters were found for masculinity judgements for male voices. The results revealed that, for both genders, the F0 mean is the most important acoustic measure affecting the judgement of acoustic-related masculinity and femininity. The F3 mean, F4 mean and VTL estimators were found to be highly inter-correlated and appeared in the same cluster, forming the second most significant factor in influencing the assessment of acoustic-related masculinity and femininity. Next, F1 mean, F2 mean and F0 standard deviation are independent factors that share similar importance. The voice perturbation measures, including HNR, jitter and shimmer, are of lesser importance in influencing masculinity/femininity judgements.
Gender Attributions by Cisgender and Gender Diverse Listeners Rating Vowels, Reading, and Monologues
2023, Journal of VoiceTo determine if listeners’ attributions of speakers’ gender vary by linguistic context and/or the listeners’ gender identity.
Seventeen self-identified transgender adults assigned male at birth were audio-recorded prolonging /a/, reading sentences, and saying spontaneous monologues. Eighteen adults (10 cisgender and 8 gender-diverse individuals) listened and used a 1–5 scale (1: very masculine, 2: somewhat masculine, 3: androgynous, 4: somewhat feminine, and 5: very feminine) to rate the gender attribution of each speech sample.
The intra-rater reliability was moderate to excellent (0.62–1.00). Ratings by cisgender and gender-diverse listeners were not significantly different. Ratings were not significantly different between different speech contexts of vowel, reading, and spontaneous monologue speech samples.
Transwomen have many variables available to consider and use in their communication. The linguistic context (eg, reading a speech versus spontaneous monologue) or listener’s gender does not appear to be highly influential factors in how listeners attribute gender.
The Acoustics of Gender in Indian English: Toward Forensic Profiling in a Multilingual Context
2023, Journal of VoiceThe present study is an acoustic analysis of Indian English, specifically examining the speech patterns and characteristics of three different groups with different native languages. This study investigates fundamental frequency (fo), fo range, fo variance, formant frequencies, and vowel space size in 42 native male and female speakers of Odia, Bangla, and Hindi. Furthermore, it investigated the potential correlation between fundamental frequency and vowel space, examining whether variations in vowel space size could be influenced by gender-specific perceptual factors. The paper emphasizes that in a multilingual context, gender identification can be efficiently correlated with both fo and formant frequencies. To measure a range of acoustic characteristics, speech samples were collected from the recording task. Analysis was done on PRAAT. The study revealed significant differences between genders for the examined acoustic characteristics. Results indicate differences in the size of gender-specific variations among the language groups, with females exhibiting more significant differences in fo, formant frequencies, and vowel space than males. The findings show no significant correlation between fo and vowel space area, indicating that other features are responsible for large vowel space for females. These findings display significant potential toward creating a robust empirical framework for gender profiling that can be utilized in a wide range of forensic linguistics investigations.
Outcomes of Gender-Affirming Voice and Communication Modification Training for Non-binary Individuals: A Case Series
2023, Journal of VoiceThere is currently no research reporting solely on outcomes of voice and communication modification training (VCMT) in individuals who identify as non-binary and genderqueer (NBGQ) in the English literature. This study aimed to describe the objective and subjective impact of VCMT on the voice of NBGQ individuals undergoing a 12-week gender-affirming VCMT program.
A retrospective consecutive case series of NBGQ individuals enrolled in a VCMT program was performed. Demographics, Transgender Self-Evaluation Questionnaire (TSEQ), fundamental frequency (F0), and frequency range were collected before and after the program.
Four NBGQ individuals enrolled between January 2019 and June 2021; the mean age was 27.0 years. While all four participants represented in this case series showed improvement in at least one of their initial goals, only one improved both their F0 and TSEQ scores; the other three participants had mixed results.
NBGQ individuals experienced improvements in self-reported outcomes and changes in acoustic measures after completing VCMT in our case series. Individuals experienced significant improvement in subjective outcomes despite small changes in acoustic measures, and vice versa. More research is needed to better understand the voice and communication needs of NBGQ individuals, along with their outcomes with VCMT.
Level 4.