Event: Linguistics Circle Seminar - Prosody in the Transgender Woman鈥檚 Voice: Investigating the Role of Pitch and Breathiness
Date: Wednesday 9 February
Time: 12:00-13:00
Venue: Online Event via Zoom
The Talk Host of the next Linguistics Circle Seminar will be Ms Carol Ciantar, Speech-Language Pathologist at the St Vincent de Paul Long Term Care Facility.
Transgender women may seek voice-feminisation therapy to communicate with a voice which better represents their gender identity. This study investigated the role of pitch and breathiness in this regard, by identifying if they can be manipulated by speakers and if they affect perception of speaker gender.
The Talk Host of the next Linguistics Circle Seminar will be Ms Carol Ciantar, Speech-Language Pathologist at the St Vincent de Paul Long Term Care Facility.
Transgender women may seek voice-feminisation therapy to communicate with a voice which better represents their gender identity. This study investigated the role of pitch and breathiness in this regard, by identifying if they can be manipulated by speakers and if they affect perception of speaker gender.
Nine transgender women were recorded reading a sentence in different conditions. The recordings were acoustically analysed to detect levels of breathiness and pitch. They were also presented to 19 listeners, who gave ratings of femininity based on a 7-point Likert scale.
Speakers were able to increase both pitch and breathiness with a short duration of training, although the latter proved more difficult. Furthermore, both pitch and breathiness increased perception of vocal femininity, although to different degrees. These results suggest that both pitch and breathiness should be implemented to different degrees when a transgender woman is seeking to change her voice.
Bio-note of Presenter
Ms Carol Ciantar graduated in B.Sc. (Hons) Communication Therapy at the Department of Communication Therapy at the Faculty of Health Sciences from the University of Malta in 2019, where she conducted a project investigating prosodic features in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). In 2021, she successfully read for a Master鈥檚 degree in Language Sciences at University College London, conducting a research project on voice-prosody in transgender women. She has also contributed to some research conducted by the Institute of Linguistics & Language Technology at the University of Malta through recording annotations. Ms Ciantar is a Speech-Language Pathologist, having previously worked with young children with ASD, and currently working at St Vincent de Paul Long Term Care Facility. She is also a freelance musician, doubling on violin and voice. She aims to include both her research interests and musical knowledge in her profession as a Speech-Language Pathologist.
To register for this event, kindly contact Ms Jessica Formosa by sending an email and you will receive a Zoom link to the event.
Speakers were able to increase both pitch and breathiness with a short duration of training, although the latter proved more difficult. Furthermore, both pitch and breathiness increased perception of vocal femininity, although to different degrees. These results suggest that both pitch and breathiness should be implemented to different degrees when a transgender woman is seeking to change her voice.
Bio-note of Presenter
Ms Carol Ciantar graduated in B.Sc. (Hons) Communication Therapy at the Department of Communication Therapy at the Faculty of Health Sciences from the University of Malta in 2019, where she conducted a project investigating prosodic features in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). In 2021, she successfully read for a Master鈥檚 degree in Language Sciences at University College London, conducting a research project on voice-prosody in transgender women. She has also contributed to some research conducted by the Institute of Linguistics & Language Technology at the University of Malta through recording annotations. Ms Ciantar is a Speech-Language Pathologist, having previously worked with young children with ASD, and currently working at St Vincent de Paul Long Term Care Facility. She is also a freelance musician, doubling on violin and voice. She aims to include both her research interests and musical knowledge in her profession as a Speech-Language Pathologist.
To register for this event, kindly contact Ms Jessica Formosa by sending an email and you will receive a Zoom link to the event.
