| Abstract | Objective: To map the procedures used by Brazilian speech-language pathologists (SLP) in the vocal evaluation and intervention of transgender women.
Methods/Design: Cross-sectional observational design study (approved by the Research Ethics Committee #5’645’020). The study included 52 Brazilian SLPs who worked in the voice area and who had assisted transgender women in the last 12 months. The SLPs answered a digital form via Google Forms, with questions elaborated by the authors about professional profiles, care for transgender women, and procedures used in the assessment and vocal intervention with transgender women. The data were analyzed using the one-sample binomial test, adopting a reference ratio 0.5. The SPSS 25.0 software was used.
Results: Most of the SLPs were voice specialists, cisgender women, with an average of 15.67 years of experience. The average number of sessions conducted in the last 12 months with transgender women was 81.35 sessions per professional. The transgender women they treated were predominantly adults, often accompanied by psychologists and endocrinologists, and they used hormone therapy with a medical prescription. Regarding the frequency of assessment procedures, auditory-perceptual judgment, acoustic analysis, and self-assessment were consistently performed, while aerodynamic measures were occasionally conducted. The techniques with the highest proportion of usage were diaphragmatic breathing for respiratory level (p=0.001); voiced bilabial fricative for glottic level (p<0.001); humming for articulatory level (p<0.001); nasal sounds for resonant level (p<0.001), frequency and intensity modulation for prosody (p<0.001); the auditory repetition technique for auditory feedback (p<0.001), and orientation for indirect intervention (p<0.001). SLPs expressed satisfaction with the techniques used, with higher satisfaction for resonance and lower satisfaction for the respiratory level.
Conclusions: The most commonly used procedures in vocal assessment and intervention are related to the main vocal characteristics that contribute to the vocal identification of the female gender. The aerodynamic measures are not necessarily performed, and the least satisfaction is with the breathing techniques.
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