Acoustic Analysis of Mandarin-Speaking Transgender Women

The aim of this study was to investigate the speech characteristics and assess the potential risk of voice fatigue and voice disorders in Mandarin-speaking transgender women. We collected data of 15 transgender women, 20 cisgender men, and 20 cisgender women in Shanghai and analyzed formants (F1, F2, F3, F4), cepstral peak prominence, jitter, shimmer, harmonic-to-noise ratio, noise-to-harmonics, fundamental frequency and intensity, were analyzed across vowels, passages, and free talking. Additionally, the Voice Handicap Index-10 and the Voice Fatigue Index were administered to evaluate voice-related concerns. Transgender women were found to show values between cis women and cis men for some acoustic data and higher values for some acoustic data related to voice fatigue and voice disorders. The results of the subjective assessment scale showed that the Voice Handicap Index-10 scores of transgender women were significantly higher than those of cis men and cis women. Combining the results of the acoustic parameters and the subjective scale, it is concluded that transgender women can achieve a change in voice without phonosurgery and voice training, but may carry potential risks for voice fatigue and voice disorders