NCT07017595

Gender-affirming Voice Training With Visual Feedback

Improving the Accessibility of Gender-affirming Voice Training With Visual-acoustic Biofeedback

• Status: Terminated
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 6 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Cincinnati · Academic / Other
• Sex: Male
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if prototype software can be used to train vocal pitch and resonance in trans women. The main questions it aims to answer are: * How regularly would trans women use the prototype voice training software as "homework" between human-led voice training sessions? * In such a setting, how usable and motivating would the training software be? Participants will first have their voice measured, then take part in four virtual sessions (one per week) led by a speech-language pathologist. In each session, the clinician will guide the participant through several voice exercises both with and without the software. Participants will be asked to use the software to exercise on their own for about 2x 15 minutes a day between virtual sessions.

Detailed description

In an initial virtual assessment session (conducted via a password-protected Zoom room), a researcher will explain the protocol, obtain informed consent, collect participant demographics and other self-report data, and obtain baseline recordings of the participant's voice while speaking different utterances. After the initial assessment session, each participant will take part in four virtual training sessions (on day 1, after approximately 1 week, after approximately 2 weeks, after approximately 3 weeks) provided on an individual basis by a certified speech-language pathologist (SLP). In the first session (1 hour), the SLP will assess each participant's baseline ability to modify their pitch and resonance and will introduce the voice training software. They will provide strategies that participants may use to manipulate their pitch or resonance (e.g., for resonance, changing the positioning of the tongue in their mouth or changing the shape of the lips). For the remainder of the session, the SLP will guide the participant through exercises deemed appropriate to the participant's ability, both with and without the software. At the end of the session, the SLP will prescribe pitch and/or resonance exercises to be performed at home with the voice training software, with a suggested duration of 2x 15 minutes each day. Additional one-hour virtual training sessions with the SLP will be held at the end of weeks 1, 2, and 3. Between sessions, participants will be asked to exercise on their own and report the duration and type of practice using a self-report log, though there will be no mechanism to enforce the unsupervised exercise. After the last training session, participants will take part in a final assessment session where the same recordings as in the initial assessment session will be obtained again and additional self-report data will be collected.

Conditions

• Transgender Women
• Voice Alteration

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Visual-acoustic biofeedback: experimental	Visual-acoustic biofeedback treatment incorporates elements of traditional voice training, including auditory models, verbal descriptions of articulator placement, and cues for repetitive motor practice using images and diagrams of the vocal tract as visual aids. Our experimental software will provide several options for visualizing the fundamental frequency of the voice (for targets involving vocal pitch) and for visualizing vocal tract resonances. Custom targets for pitch and resonance will be created for each participant based on their baseline voice characteristics and personal voice goals. They will be encouraged to attend to the visual display while adjusting the placement of their articulators and observing how those adjustments influence the proximity of their output to the target.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-06-05
• Primary completion: 2025-07-11
• Completion: 2025-07-18
• First posted: 2025-06-12
• Last updated: 2025-07-24

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States