The purpose of the present study was to determine the current characteristics and needs of the male-to-female transgender voice client. Specifically, what are the current characteristics (e.g. age, marital status, number of children) of the male-to-female transgender client? Does participation in therapy affect overall satisfaction with feminine presentation? Do alternative methods for voice feminization (e.g. DVDs, YouTube, peer mentors) result in similar levels of satisfaction? Lastly, do male-to-female transgender avoid community activities in order to prevent being perceived as male, and can therapy help with this? We evaluated the responses of 77 participants who completed an Internet-based survey. Results were compared to Blanchard’s 1994 study of characteristics of male-to-female transgender persons. Characteristics of the 1994 study and the MtF transgender client of 2010 were comparable, with a slightly older age for the present study. The client was likely to have been married at least once, and to have at least one child. Respondents who had participated in speech therapy were more satisfied with their femininity overall when compared to those who had not received speech services. Satisfaction with alternative methods was low. In addition, both groups reported a high level of avoidant activities based on fear of being perceived as male. / text

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Deliver message by voice is the most important, effective and common method of exchange information for mankind. Language is human specific features and human voice is commonly used tool which is also the important way to pass information to each other. The voice has large information capacity. So we can use modern method to study voice processing technology, so that people can easily transmit, store, access and apply the voice. In this thesis, we designed a collection system that can collect voice and use different filters to filter the noise. After filtering the noise, the voice will be more quality in mobile communication, radio, TV and so on. In this thesis we use Microsoft recorder to collect a voice, and then analyze its time-domain, the frequency spectrum and the characteristics of the voice signal. We use MATLAB‟s function to remove the noise which has been added to the voice, further use bilinear transformation method to design a filter which is based on Butterworth simulation and window function and then filter the voice signal which has been added noise. After that we compare the time-domain and frequency-domain of the original voice and noised voice, then playback the noised voice and de-noising voice and then compare the application of signal processing in FIR filter and IIR filter, especially in the perspectives of the signal filtering de-noising characteristics and applications. According to the comparison, we can determine which filter is the best.

Abstract INTEGRATING THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD INTO THE VOICE AND SPEECH CLASSROOM: INTERTWINING LINKLATER VOICE AND THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD By Janel R. Miley Knipple, MFA A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2018. Major Director: Karen Kopryanski, Head of Voice and Speech, Assistant Professor Department of Theatre Proprioception and kinesthetic awareness are important factors in actor training as performers strive to increase their physical and vocal prowess in order to respond to the demands of roles. The Feldenkrais Method, a somatic approach to learning that promotes greater awareness, has been utilized in actor training for decades; however, the historical details, measurable impact, and benefits of the Feldenkrais Method in this field have been largely undocumented. In this thesis, I will examine the history of the Feldenkrais Method, particularly considering interactions between theatre artists and Feldenkrais. In addition, I will suggest new possibilities for creating a voice and speech curriculum that integrates the Feldenkrais Method, providing both historical precedents and current findings to support the efficacy of incorporating the Feldenkrais Method into actor voice and speech training. Referencing experiences of how the Feldenkrais Method and the Linklater Progression have worked together to improve my own acting and teaching, I will conclude with a strategy on incorporating the Feldenkrais Method into voice and speech training.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1983. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [131]-139.

This thesis analyzes elocutionary theory and practice on a national, literary, and individual level, placing emphasis on the ways in which the eighteenth century treatises of elocutionist Thomas Sheridan address, and ultimately promote, speaking as both a public (or performative) and private (or authentic) act. Moreover, the thesis extends a consideration of the impact of elocutionary theory on various historical moments throughout the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries, respectively. Beginning with the works of elocutionist Thomas Sheridan and concluding with an analysis of recent pedagogical theories and narratives within the field of composition studies, this thesis also defines the impact of Sheridan's theories on the construction of Irish national identity. It presents nineteenth and twentieth-century Irish theatre as a compelling case study in order to argue that performance?a key theoretical concept in elocutionary theory?remains essential to the study and investigation of voice in the contemporary English classroom. Focusing on the dramatic works of Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and Brian Friel, this thesis contends that Irish drama, in addition to presenting a forceful illustration of the ways in which Sheridan's elocutionary theories have been adapted and challenged on the national and civic level, provides current scholars access to recent dramatic representations of authenticity and voice as well as the virtues/pitfalls of performativity. Wilde, Shaw and Friel specifically present linguistic performance as a process of negotiation and exchange, using the stage to reflect and construct Irish national and civic identity. Each playwright offers a lens through which to reevaluate ongoing debates over language acquisition, particularly as such debates arise within the context of composition studies. Through a careful examination of elocutionary theory and its various influences across a variety of historical moments, this study encourages contemporary composition scholars and pedagogues to reconsider the role of authenticity and performance within the writing classroom, prompting students and teachers to explore writing as an expression of both the public and private self. In doing so, this thesis argues that scholars and teachers will become better equipped to address discussions of voice, authenticity and performance in their writing classrooms.

In 1977, a Seattle judge, exasperated at having to make life-altering decisions for children with little information, founded the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program. In 2010, 75,000 people in 49 states volunteered their time to advocate for a child or sibling set in foster care. This project is aimed at understanding the issues of voice and advocacy imbedded within the organization Advocates For Kids and within the foster care system at large through critical ethnography. Further, this dissertation aspires to illuminate the complex ethics at play in the foster care system. This dissertation seeks to reveal the complicated ways in which the law is enacted by individuals such as foster parents, judges, and lawyers. Specifically, the dissertation provides an in-depth examination of the role of the Court Appointed Special Advocate. CASAs are volunteers trained by the nonprofit organization, Advocates For Kids, who advocate on behalf of children in foster care. I collected data via interviews, observation, document examination, and reflexivity to present a crystallized account of the issues of voice and advocacy in the work of Advocates For Kids. Based on the data, I expound three categories of voice at play in the work of VFC: Imagined Voice, Monitored Voice, and Stifled Voice. I also argue that volunteers intentionally perform privilege in order to ethically advocate for the children with whom they work. The dissertation concludes with a performative script based on the project designed to represent the complexity of the foster care system.

published_or_final_version / Speech and Hearing Sciences / Master / Master of Philosophy

A number of risks have been proposed in the literature to be associated with hyperfunctional voice disorder (HVD), one of the most common communication disorders. Yet, it is not distributed randomly in the population, certain population groups are at higher risks of developing voice disorders. It is generally agreed that the development of voice disorders involves a multifactorial genesis. The study of risks has been documented in different diseases and also in the World Health Report (W.H.O., 2002). The probabilistic approach has been recommended to effectively manage the likelihood of health outcome in relations to disease development (Tonetti, 1988) and systematically devise prevention and intervention programs targeting population at risk. Yet, in the study of the development of HVD, the lack of a universally agreed theoretical framework prohibited the establishment of such structure and research on advancement on preventive programs. The present thesis aimed to investigate the adoption of the FMAT risk assessment framework based on the probabilistic approach (WHO) to the field of hyperfunctional voice disorders. A Voice Risk Calculator (VRC) Questionnaire was developed focusing on the vocal loading, physiological/medical and psycho-emotional indicators and all subjects completed this questionnaire. The VRC Questionnaire was then validated based on the FMAT framework using a cross-sectional study was used to identify risk indicators associated with HVD development in the local population and a longitudinal study was employed to validate these risk indicators as risk factors. A total of 192 Cantonese-speaking subjects participated in the cross-sectional study including 123 dysphonic subjects and 69 non-dysphonic control subjects and 7 in the longitudinal study. Instrumental measurements including the voice range profile, aerodynamic measurements and the Voice Activity and Participation Profile (VAPP, Ma & Yiu, 2001) were also used as part of the validation procedure. The findings showed that significant differences were found between the dysphonic and non-dysphonic group in the cross-sectional study based on results from the instrumental measurements protocol. A minimal set of selected VRC questionnaire items were also determined (Items 1, 3, 25 and somatization scale) to differences between the subject groups in this study. Thus a set of locally-applicable risk indicators have been suggested. Yet, only minimal changes have been detected in a high-risk group targeted in the longitudinal study. Research (Beck, 1994) indicated that disease progression takes over a time frame of at least more than two years. Thus the small subject size and temporal element of the longitudinal study in the present thesis limited research aim to be achieved. Nonetheless that first phase of the FMAT framework for hyperfunctional voice disorders have been established in the current study and a finalized version of the Voice Risk Calculated Questionnaire has been developed for future research. / published_or_final_version / Speech and Hearing Sciences / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Motor learning is widely investigated in the literature on sports and rehabilitation sciences. In recent years, researchers have begun to apply general motor learning principles to voice motor learning. This study investigated the effects of relative frequency (100% feedback versus 50% feedback versus 0% feedback) of augmented vibration feedback on the acquisition of resonant voice in a motor learning task. Thirty adults and 30 children with normal voice were randomly assigned to three groups of different relative frequencies of feedback: 100%, 50% and 0% feedback. During resonant voice training, participants were taught how to read aloud nasal nonsense consonant vowel (CV) syllables and short phrases with resonant voice. Vibration feedback using piezoelectric accelerometers placed at the nasal bridge was provided for participants. Participants in the 100% feedback group received vibration feedback after the production of every training stimulus. Participants in the 50% feedback group received vibration feedback after the production of every two training stimuli. Participants in the 0% feedback group received no vibration feedback during the training sessions. Motor learning and generalization were assessed using accelerometric vibrations detected at baseline (before training), during training, retention and transfer (one week after completing the training). With respect to the adult participants, vibration feedback presented at frequencies of 100%, 50% and even at 0% was effective in facilitating the acquisition of resonant voice. Generalization of resonant voice production to untrained short phrases was also evidenced. No significant time (time phase) by group (different relative frequency of feedback) interaction effect was shown on three groups of relative frequencies of feedback on learning or generalization in the adult group. With respect to the child participants, significant time effect was observed in most of the trained stimuli and untrained stimuli. Significant time (time phase) by group (different relative frequency of feedback) interaction effect was noted across three relative frequencies of feedback groups. The results demonstrated that the greatest increment in accelerometric vibrations occurred in the 100% feedback group, followed by 50% feedback group. The group which received 0% feedback had the least improvement on acquiring resonant voice. The present study demonstrated that there were learning differences in acquiring resonant voice between adults and children. Adults did not require as much feedback during the acquisition of resonant voice when compared to children. Children required more feedback than adults in order to facilitate their learning. The differences in learning of this voice task between adults and children may shed light on later voice motor learning studies. The provision of relative frequency of feedback may need to be adjusted when working with different age groups in both populations. / published_or_final_version / Speech and Hearing Sciences / Master / Master of Philosophy