Authentic Voices
BY STEFANI DEOUL
“To thine own self be true...”
T
his headline is from Act 1 Scene 3 of Shakespeare’s and chesty to do it. Try it “smaller,” and it just won’t have the Hamlet. It is also the underlying operating principle of same effect. Resonance makes a difference. Authentic Voices, LLC, a speech-language, gender-afNext there’s intonation, where, for example, speakers perfirming, voice therapy practice for the trans and non-biceived as feminine might use a more upward intonation pattern. nary community. This is a quality which should be subtle, because an overuse Ryan Ellenbaum (she/her) and Samantha Klein (she/her) met in might give you a “valley girl” effect. There’s also pragmatics, graduate school, at Temple University, which, as fate would have where gender expression can extend to what you say or how it, is one of the few schools that you say it. And finally, there’s offered a class (note the singunon-verbal communication. lar) in gender affirming voice Even when we’re not speaking, therapy. But that one class did we’re communicating with our have a clinic, and there, watchbodies; a constant messaging ing nonbinary folx come in and with our posture, hand gesevolve into their own skin betures, eye contact, facial exprescame as transformational for sions, and even proximity to our Ryan and Samantha as it was conversation partners. Clients for the people having vocal are asked, “Is this message in training. Fast forward a few line with all your vision?” years, and a practice is born. Assessed, explained, let the Its mission is to help clients work begin. It’s a process of Its mission is to help clients complete themselves by complete themselves by findthoughtful incremental changing their voice—the voice they es, each evaluated, explored, finding their voice—the voice they hear in their head. hear in their head. The one that practiced, and repeated, until The one that matches their vision. The one that makes matches their vision. The one muscle memory takes hold. them authentically themselves. that makes them authentically Anyone who’s ever heard “you themselves. can take the kid out of the And how do they get there? ____, but you can’t take the First up, setting goals, defining success, and yes, even adjust- ____ out of the kid,” knows this isn’t easy. For gender non-coning expectations. Are you happy with how you sound? How femi- forming people, none of it is. nine or masculine do you want to sound? Not that many years ago, this field was in its infancy, and for When someone thinks about changing their voice to sound most people who transitioned it was, at best, a tool to help them more masculine or feminine, the first thing that usually comes to “pass.” Today, the field is growing at a speed which matches mind is raising or lowering their pitch (aka frequency). Although our burgeoning understanding of the spectrum of gender. Not pitch changes alone are unlikely to influence perceptions of everyone wants to be taken from A-Z. Some people would like speaker gender, many studies have been conducted to pinpoint to move a little left or right with a goal toward androgyny. exact pitch ranges for voices perceived as masculine, gender And in this emerging world, Samantha Klein and Ryan neutral, and feminine to unfamiliar listeners. Ellenbaum share a takeaway that is upbeat and constant, a Now if you’re thinking well, why not just “pitch up” and reflection of themselves—as in “to thine own self be true”—and be done, the answer is not so simple. Clients might wind up be reflected in a healthy manner. Gender affirmation voice and with more of a child’s voice than what is preferred. And while communication therapy is for anyone who feels that their voice hormone therapy might give a transmasculine person a “stepdoes not match their identity. Working together, with Authentic down,” there is much to be done to make that hormone-induced Voices or a practice like it, can help clients close that gap and voice authentic. find their best voice. All of which leads us to resonance, which largely has to do For those interested in learning more, you can reach out to with how a person shapes the sound of their voice using the lips, Ryan and Samantha at authenticvoicesllc.com. ▼ tongue, and other structures of the mouth. Generally speaking, cis-males have a “chestier” or darker sound quality, due to anStefani Deoul is a television producer and author of the award-winning atomically larger laryngeal and oral cavities. By contrast, cis-feYA mystery series Sid Rubin Silicon Alley Adventures, with On a LARP, males have a more “forward-focused” or brighter resonance, as Zero Sum Game, and Say Her Name. they tend to have laryngeal and oral cavities that are smaller. Sound complicated? Let’s simplify and give it the old “HOPhotos, left to right, Ryan Ellenbaum and Samantha Klein. HO-HO.” We’ve all done Santa’s Ho Ho Ho…and we all get big
Letters 12 MAY 14, 2021