Voice Feminization Exercises: Controlling the “Gender Knob”

Every crossdresser, trans-woman, or genderfluid wondered at some point how to sound more feminine when speaking.

Our voice is a great part of our characteristics and traits, and it is natural to desire one that matches our gender and personality.

That’s why today I’ve come up with some exercises that will help tune the sound of your voice to match one that represents yourself!

These simple exercises will help you recognize all the parts involved in producing your voice and control them!

Also, you will learn a little bit more about the physics and muscles that make this possible.

Keep reading and find out how to make your inner voice sound on the outside!

1. The Gender Knob

In this previous article, I have written in-depth about all the things that occur when we speak.

If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend you do. I will be relying on some of that information as a base.

With that out of the way, we can start today’s lesson.

Every container, like a glass or a bottle, can produce an arrangement of different pitches when tapped.

One of the most characteristic traits of any given sound is frequency.

This is the periodic vibration of the sound and is measured in Hertz (Hz).

The frequency of the sound determines its pitch. The higher the pitch, the higher the frequency of the sound.

The same opposite happens with low sounds. Unlike with some objects, we can control many aspects of the sound within our throats.

The cavities in our larynx and pharynx can be controlled to tune your voice to sound feminine.

This throat size is our gender knob.

2. Understanding How Your Pitch Is Produced

When we talk and sing, we produce a pitch.

This is different from your “throat pitch,” which occurs at the same time.

In combination, they form your vocal timbre.

Whether your voice sounds feminine or masculine is determined by the ratio between your vocal pitch and throat space.

We recognize wider ratios as feminine voices and narrower masculine ones.

We can tweak this ratio with the right exercises and lots of practice.

It also helps a great deal to understand how our voice resonates in our bodies and how it is produced.

For instance, if you talk at 300 Hz, but your throat pitch is 900 Hz, you will sound masculine with this narrower 1:3 ratio relation between the two.

But if you speak at 300 Hz and your throat pitch is 1800 Hz, the 1:6 wider ratio will produce a feminine-sounding voice.

3. Why Your Throat Pitch Is So Important

When somebody is exposed to male hormones like testosterone, the vocal space expands.

This produces a longer vocal tract that produces a lower-sounding voice.

Even though there are many other elements responsible for the sound of our voice, this ratio between your vocal and throat pitch is the most significant one for feminizing your voice.

Picture the sound one produces when circling the finger on the edge of a cup filled with water.

Adding water to the glass will generate a high tone, while reducing the water level will make the sound lower.

The same principle applies here. Each of the following exercises focuses on producing different sounds while trying to control this.

As an alternative way to check how well you are controlling this ratio, you can tap lightly on your throat with one finger to check the final pitch of the sound.

4. The Exercises

The basic idea for the exercise is to pronounce the /ε/ vowel (as in edge), starting in a masculine pitch and raising it until you reach a feminine register.

Make a continuous /ε/ sound resonate in your natural voice and raise the pitch slowly until you reach a pitch and resonance you feel comfortable and like.

We’ll do this by shortening the larynx tract and raising the Adam’s apple to a higher position in our necks.

Once you reach the point in which your voice sounds good, keep pronouncing the /ε/ without changing the resonance.

The second exercise is very similar to the first one, but the aim is a different sound.

Time to start practicing the /p/ sound combined with the /ә/ as in “puck.”

In the same manner as the previous exercise, start with a silent /pә/ in a natural pitch.

Then, start raising the frequency of your voice, controlling the muscles in your throat to reach a feminine-sounding register.

Once there, pronounce the /pә/ several times to get used to it.

If your voice sounds a little off, take a few minutes off and try again from the beginning.

For our third exercise, we are going to focus on the bilabial nasal sound /m/, as in “mom.”

Then again, we are going to start producing a natural /and controlling our larynx.

We are going to shift it into a feminine-sounding one.

At this point, you should be familiarized with the mechanics of these exercises.

The more space you allow in your throat cavities, the lower the sound produced and vice versa.

Once you reach the desired pitch, keep repeating until you feel it natural.

For our last exercise for today, we are going to focus on the resonance while producing any vowel sound.

The aim is to choose whatever vowel you feel like and make three different sounds: Dark, neutral, and bright.

We do this by shifting the resonance while maintaining the pitch unchanged.

While neutral is your natural throat position, the dark one relies on opening more space in your neck.

The bright sound will rely on you narrowing the space in your throat.

5. How to Practice These Exercises?

To achieve the best results, you should practice as much as you can and record yourself.

Repeat each exercise until you get tired, but be persistent.

These exercises have a component of training the muscles in your throat to build strength.

Nevertheless, it is fundamental that you understand how to position them while speaking.

These exercises are about gaining awareness of all the movements and parts involved in producing your voice.

You have to know what muscles are involved and recognize the right position for them.

Even though I used “feminine” to describe the desired sound, you shouldn’t focus much on it at first.

With practice, your throat muscles will get used to the position required to sound like the woman inside you!

While practicing, make sure you are not only raising your pitch.

You also have to restrict the space within your throat.

This will only cause a higher pitch but within the masculine voice range.

The resonance that occurs in your throat is key to maintaining a feminine-sounding voice by restricting the space in which the sound vibrates.

For a more detailed walkthrough, you can check the following video that made this post possible!

Also, check out and subscribe to this great channel for more voice feminization exercises.

6. Keeping Track of Your Progress

To keep track of your progress, you can download an app for your phone that measures the pitch.

You can also plug a microphone into your computer and find any pitch tuning page with a quick search on the web.

Make sure you use a pitch tuner that measures your pitch in Hertz (Hz).

With it, you will see how the sound and pitch of your voice shift from a masculine register to a feminine one.

Record these practices and take note of your pitch to understand the difference in your voice.

But there are other ways in which you can measure your advances.

You must be comfortable with your new speech pattern.

Remember not to add tension because this will be counterproductive and could harm your vocal strings.

Our goal is to gain confidence and feel natural while we speak.

Remember to drink water to keep your throat from dryness while you practice.

The next thing is very important.

If you manage to control your voice to resonate in a feminine pitch, you probably won’t be able to maintain it for long.

At least not right away. As we have seen, we use the muscles in our throats to modify our voice.

Like any other muscle or technique in or with our body, we must train to dominate it and achieve the desired results.

By repetition and consistency, you will discover that “sweet spot” where you can sound feminine and be comfortable talking.

Be patient and keep practicing. You’ll get there!

As you can see, controlling the ratio between your throat space and the length of your vocal tract is essential to achieve a feminine voice.

With these exercises, you can start practicing to refine the technique.

You won’t believe the results when you hear the final result. I hope this has been of some help to you.

If you are beginning to feminize your voice, I suggest you read our previous posts in our blog.

Understanding the fundamentals of the sound of your voice will make it easier. And you? Are you ready to start practicing?

Written by Tina Munova.