Changing male voice to female voice: Feminization Laryngoplasty
James P Thomas, MD
Feminization Laryngoplasty (FemLar) is a type of vocal cord (laryngeal) surgery designed to obtain a more feminine sounding voice in the male to female transgender patient. Several types of procedures target the frequency or pitch of the resting speaking voice to some degree. Feminization Laryngoplasty changes the pitch as well as some of the resonance characteristics of the speaking voice by changing the configuration of the vocal tract and not just the vocal cords themselves. Vocal cord tuning performed with a KTP Laser will be discussed. Video and audio recordings of normal vocal cords, as well as recordings of patient voices undergoing the various procedures, should offer the audience a better understanding of the voice as well as a better comparison of the results of these procedures than numbers alone do. Feminization Laryngoplasty will also be compared with CricoThryoid Approximation (CTA), which is designed to place the voice into a permanent falsetto.
Dr. James Thomas is a laryngologist, an ENT surgeon who limits his practice to voice disorders. He trained in Pennsylvania and Illinois followed by a fellowship at Loyola University in Chicago. His laryngology practice is in Portland, Oregon. His current involvement with Vocal pitch change is as a surgical specialist of the voice. He has been developing the above procedure (FemLar) over the past 6 years and has presented preliminary results at previous meetings.