How can voice feminisation be achieved?

Voice feminisation can be achieved with surgical techniques aimed at altering one’s pitch, going from a masculine and lower one to a higher one, usually regarded as more feminine.

What is phonosurgery?

Voice surgery, or phonosurgery, gathers a series of micro-surgery techniques that can alter or improve one’s vocal function (voice).

Voice surgery allows to:

• Alter or improve one’s pitch;
• Alter or improve the thickness, length, position, orientation and tension of the vocal cords;
• Alter or improve the way one’s vocal cords vibrate.

Laryngoplasty is one of the treatments performed in the field of phonosurgery. It can raise one’s pitch in order to make it sound more harmonious and feminine. This procedure is also known as type 4 thyroplasty or cricothyroid approximation (CTA).

Why might someone undergo a laryngoplasty?

CTA or type 4 thyroplasty is done to get a higher, more harmonious and feminine-sounding pitch.

What does it involve?

Type 4 thyroplasty consists in increasing the length of the vocal cords, elevating their pitch or frequency (as they were originally lower). The procedure involves bringing together the cricoid cartilage and the thyroid cartilage. This will mimic the cricothyroid muscle action of raising the pitch whenever it is contracted.

What is recovery from a laryngoplasty like?

After the surgery, you will need to rest your voice and avoid straining your vocal cords (for instance, when coughing) for at least four days.

Which specialist performs type 4 thyroplasty?

ENT surgeons typically perform this kind of surgery as they are specialists when it comes to voice surgery and voice disorders.