Abstract
Testosterone has been known to play an important role in the development of the postpubertal
male voice for many centuries. In fact, the prevention of pubertal development of
the voice by castrating young male singers was a well-known practice, especially in
Italy beginning in the sixteenth century. The “castrati” were well known for their
clear, high-pitched voices. Because of the resulting small larynx and vocal folds,
castrati apparently produced a distinctive resonance as well as the high pitch, which
cannot be matched even by the counter tenors of today. Busy voice labs occasionally
see males with sex hormone deficiencies secondary to chromosomal or gonadal problems.
This is a presentation of an unusual patient who was a trained tenor singer and was
found to have hypogonadism on a premarital health examination. Administration of replacement
testosterone resulted in significant vocal register and voice quality changes.
Keywords
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References
References
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
March 9,
2001
Footnotes
☆Presented at the 24th International Congress, July 15-21, Chongqing, China and The Tianjing Voice Symposium (Phonosurgery and Voice Therapy for Singing Voice Problems): Satellite Meeting of CoMet 2000, July 23, 2000, Tianjing, China.
Identification
Copyright
© 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
