Regulating “Resonance”: An Examination of the Reproducibility of “Resonance”-based Voice Work in Transgender Voice Populations and Beyond
“Sometimes an exception can (dis)prove the rule.” This adage may ring no truer than in the lexicography of technical terms emerging in the heated development of Gender Affirming Voice Therapy (GAVT). “Resonance” based terminology has found wide popularity among these lexical entries in technical voice jargon. These terms may describe any combination of literal kinesthetic sensation of sympathetic vibration, proprioceptive imagining of voice “placement” in extra-laryngeal anatomy, and/or laryngeal vibratory mechanism/general glottal behavior. The transgender community exhibits a prolific, documented overlap with the autism spectrum community. Those with autism spectrum disorders may have a lower propensity for sensorily connecting to neurotypical-centering psychomotor cues biased towards figurative targets. GAVT also holds the unique position of targeting specific anatomical bimodalities resulting in very commonly observed differences between typical male and female voices. The ethnoracial and ethnolinguistic discrepancies in facial structure and psychoacoustic referents may even introduce an element of ethnic exclusion in pedagogy that requires reproducing Eurocentric descriptions of sensations in Eurocentric facial structures. Unlike more artistic voice practices like singing, GAVT goals are amenable to a higher level of standardization. This standardization can assume the form of relatively universal anatomical targets for GAVT. The reproducibility of “resonance” based voice approaches may thereby be tested via the universality of their translation to individual anatomical targets. In this study, our objective is to observe this terminology-to-technique translation via a survey of GAVT professionals as well as their potential client base. These surveys include questions regarding the individual “resonance” based strategies they interact with and associated interventions (drills, exercises, visualizations etc.). For each of the listed “resonance” based GAVT strategies, we ask questions to elicit possible anatomical targets as well as why these targets may be bimodal in male and female voices. We mine this free response data for key terms and statements for statistical analysis. The resultant analysis may even speak to the needs of cisgender voice clients looking for reproducible, anatomically-transparent terminology. Our results are pending completed collaboration with our partnered institutions.