Your voice is one of the most personal parts of who you are—and one of the most powerful tools for expressing gender. Whether you're looking for safety, gender euphoria, clarity, or play, learning how your voice works can help you build a version of it that feels just right for you. And the best part? You don’t need hormones, surgery, or even fancy equipment to get started. Just a bit of curiosity, a willingness to experiment, and the right guidance.

🎉 Celebrate Pride with 30% Off All Courses!

To support you on your journey this Pride Month, I’m offering 30% off all of my trans voice training courses throughout June!

🏳️‍⚧️ Use code PRIDE2025 at checkout
💻 All courses are self-paced, beginner-friendly, and online
🌍 Created by and for trans people

✨ Explore the full course collection now:
👉 reneeyoxon.com/pride2025

Included courses:

• Mindful Voice Feminization

• Masculinize Your Voice Without Testosterone

• Mix & Match: Designing Your Nonbinary Voice

📺 Watch the Full Video Guide

What Is Gender-Affirming Voice Training?

Also called trans voice training, this is the process of consciously adjusting how your speaking voice sounds through daily practice and targeted exercises. You’re not broken, and there’s no “right” voice to aim for, just the one that feels most like you.

Some people train for gender euphoria, others to reduce dysphoria or feel safer in public. Some want to sound more like their mom, others want to sound nothing like their mom. Whatever your reason, it’s valid, and the possibilities are wide open.

How Your Voice Works

Your voice is shaped by a fascinating interplay of anatomy and airflow. It starts with your vocal folds in the larynx (voice box), and the sound is modified by your throat, mouth, and nose—this shaping is where most of your voice’s character comes from.

To change your voice, we focus on four key characteristics:

• Resonance – The tone colour or “space” of the voice

• Pitch – How high or low your voice sounds

• Vocal Weight – How heavy or light the voice feels

• Inflection – The musicality and emphasis in your speech

These are the building blocks of voice perception, and they’re what we explore in detail in both the video and this post.

Want to learn more about the anatomy of the voice?
📚 Get My Free eBook, Learn How Your Voice Works →

The 4 Key Characteristics of Voice (and How to Work on Them)

1. Resonance – Your Most Powerful Voice Tool

Resonance refers to the colour of your voice, or what is sometimes referred to as vocal space. It’s shaped by the size and shape of your vocal tract (your throat, mouth, and nasal cavity), and it’s often the most important factor in how gendered your voice is perceived.

In trans voice training, we often describe resonance as either bright (more forward, smaller vocal space) or dark (more back, larger vocal space). These changes can sound like pitch shifts, but they’re not. Your fundamental frequency stays the same. That’s why resonance is such a powerful gender cue: it changes perception without needing large pitch changes.

💡 Exercise Preview: In the video, I walk you through a whisper trick that proves just how effective resonance is. Spoiler alert: whispers don’t have pitch, but you’ll hear big differences anyway!

🎥 Want to go deeper?
🗂️ Check out the Resonance Playlist →

2. Pitch – Small Shifts Can Go a Long Way

Pitch is the highness or lowness of your voice, measured in hertz (Hz). It’s also called the fundamental frequency. This is determined by how quickly your vocal folds are vibrating, which is influenced by their tension, thickness, and the airflow from your lungs.

While pitch is often seen as the thing to change in trans voice training, it’s usually not the main driver of gender perception. That said, it does matter! Especially when combined with resonance.

💡 Exercise Preview: In the video, I walk you through using a piano or tuner to identify your current pitch range, then experiment with slightly raising or lowering your starting pitch. I also cover how to stabilize your pitch at the ends of your sentences to avoid accidental drops that can signal gender to listeners.

🎥 Learn how pitch actually works (and why it matters less than you think):
🗂️ Check out the Pitch Playlist →

3. Vocal Weight – Finding the Right Balance

Vocal weight refers to how light or heavy your voice sounds. This is largely shaped by how thick your vocal folds are and how much pressure they use when coming together (a.k.a. adduction). Vocal weight can change how buzzy, breathy, or balanced your voice sounds, and can be a powerful gender cue when used intentionally.

People who’ve been through a testosterone puberty often have thicker vocal folds by default, giving a naturally buzzier sound. But anyone can experiment with thickening or thinning the voice using vocal fold pressure and muscle coordination.

💡 Exercise Preview: One of my favourites is the “chicken neck” exercise. By gently moving your head forward and back while phonating, you can feel how the shape of your neck affects vocal fold contact and vocal weight. It’s weird, but it works.

🎥 Want more buzz vs. breath exercises?
🗂️ Check out the Vocal Weight Playlist →

4. Inflection – Where Voice Meets Emotion

Inflection is the expressive movement in your voice—how your pitch rises and falls, how you emphasize words, and how you shape your speech rhythm. It’s the animation of your voice and plays a big role in how others interpret your mood, personality, and yes, gender.

I break inflection down into two major categories:

• Contour: how much pitch variation you use (wide vs. narrow)

• Emphasis: how you stress words with pitch, volume, or timing

Some people naturally speak with a wide, musical contour. Others are more monotone. Neither is right or wrong, but if you want to shift perception, especially toward a more feminine or expressive style, playing with inflection is a game-changer.

💡 Exercise Preview: Try saying the word “ridiculous” with different emphases—raising pitch, stretching syllables, or adding volume. This is straight from my Mix & Match: Designing Your Nonbinary Voice course and is one of the most flexible tools you can use.

🎥 Want to add more character to your speech?
🗂️ Check out the Inflection Playlist →

Want to Start Practicing?

The best place to begin is with a regular warm-up. It’s a simple habit that helps you get familiar with your voice and build the foundations for deeper work.

🎧 Get My Free Follow-Along Warm-Up →

Once you’re warmed up, you can start exploring any of the voice characteristics through the exercises in the video or the playlists above.

Want More Structure?

If you’re ready to take your practice further, I created three full-length voice training courses designed specifically for trans and nonbinary folks:

• Mindful Voice Feminization

• Masculinize Your Voice Without Testosterone

• Mix & Match: Designing Your Nonbinary Voice

Each course includes structured lessons, follow-along practice, and strategies to help you build a voice that feels right, whether that means sounding more feminine, more masculine, more androgynous, or just more you.

🎉 Don’t forget: they’re all 30% off for Pride Month
👉 Go to the Pride Sale →

Final Thoughts

Voice training is a deeply personal practice. It can feel silly at times, slow at others, but it can also be joyful, affirming, and transformative. Whether you work with a teacher or go solo, the most important thing is that your voice journey belongs to you.

Thanks for reading. I’ve been Renée, and I hope this helps. 🏳️‍⚧️