Local 12 News: Developing an app could help transgender people struggling with their voices

Vesna Dominika Novak, PhD, associate professor in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, spoke with Local 12 News about her research now available in the Journal of Voice. It shows the results of a 57-question survey of 21 transgender and gender diverse individuals focusing on voice, technology app usage, surgery, training and gender expression and identity. Transgender and gender diverse people may benefit from better-designed smartphone apps which offer voice and communication training software that help lessen voice-gender incongruence for individuals.

Novak told Local 12 News that for some individuals the motivation to change their voice is an internal desire. “They say, ‘Oh I don’t like the way I sound, I want to change it.’ And some people it is external and they say, ‘I don’t care how I sound but other people judge me for the way I sound so I want to change this.’”

Listen to the interview on Local 12 News online.

Learn more about research from Vesna Novak, PhD, online.

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