SUMMARY
Objectives/hypothesis
Although intonation is often addressed in speech training for gender diverse individuals,
the relationship between intonation and femininity/masculinity ratings remains unclear.
The aim of this study was to examine differences in intonation parameters in gender
diverse individuals. Moreover, the relationship between acoustic intonation parameters
and femininity/masculinity ratings was investigated.
Methods
Speech samples of semistructured speech were elicited from cisgender (cis) (107 ciswomen,
104 cis men), transgender (trans) (19 trans women, 10 trans men), and non-binary (n = 11)
individuals using a prosody protocol. An objective acoustic analysis was performed
to compare intonation parameters (upward/downward/flat intonation shift, general and
final intonation shift, general fundamental frequency range, fundamental frequency
variation index) between groups. In addition, a listening experiment was conducted,
consisting of a cis and gender diverse listening panel (n = 41). The listeners were
asked to rate the femininity/masculinity of speech samples (n = 57) using a visual
analogue scale. Correlational analyses were used to examine the relationship between
intonation parameters and femininity/masculinity ratings.
Results
Similarity was found in the intonation parameters of participants with a similar gender
identity. In non-binary speakers, no significant differences in acoustic intonation
parameters were found between these speakers and the cisgender speakers. In addition,
no significant correlations were found between the acoustic intonation parameters
and the femininity/masculinity ratings in the groups with cis men, cis women, and
non-binary participants. However, moderate to strong significant correlations were
found between acoustic intonation parameters and femininity/masculinity ratings in
the trans participants.
Conclusions
Intonation is a “speech marker” that distinguishes between groups with a different
gender identity. No relationship was observed between intonation and femininity/masculinity
ratings for cisgender and non-binary speakers. However, the significant relationship
between these parameters for transgender participants (trans men and trans women)
provides evidence for intonation exercises in gender affirming voice, speech, and
communication training, and therefore contribute to evidence-based intonation training
in transgender persons.
KEY WORDS
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 15, 2023
Accepted:
December 21,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofFootnotes
The protocol of this study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Ghent University Hospital (B670201941335) and completed according to the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
