SELF-PERCEPTION OF THE VOICE IN TRANSSEXUAL WOMEN OF VIDAS ESCONDIDAS COMMUNITY (NEUQUÉN, ARGENTINA), MEASURED THROUGH TRANSSEXUAL VOICE QUESTIONNAIRE MALE TO FEMALE (TVQMTF).

Abstract

Introduction: the voice represents a fundamental factor in the construction of sexual identity. A gender-nonconforming voice places the individual at risk of feelings of inadequacy that should be taken into account by the voice professional. The objective was to analyze the self-perception of the voice in transsexual women through the TVQ^MtF.

Material and methods: simple transversal descriptive study. The TVQ^MtF was applied in 17 transsexual. The TVQ^MtF has 30 items that describe experiences related to vocal functioning, psychosocial impact and restrictions on participation in society, which are scored according to a scale of 4 points: 1 never or very rarely, 2 sometimes, 3 often and 4 frequently or always, in addition the current and ideal voice is valued, by choosing one of the following five options: very feminine, something feminine, neutral, something masculine or very masculine. The scores were analyzed by establishing measures of central position and frequency ranges and the results were expressed as percentages.

Results: the experiences related to vocal functioning and psychosocial impact of voice were the most frequent. The restrictions to participating in society were the less frequent. The current and ideal voice was considered somewhat female by most of the participants.

Conclusions: TVQ^MtF can be considered a valid self-report tool to capture the MtF women’s experiences related to their voice and provide a means of information in the vocal training.