Voice therapy is the process of changing your voice to be more masculine or feminine. It is an involved process and can take ages.
Trans-Men
If you are a trans-man hormones generally will cause your voice to become lower and the vast amount of transmen on HRT generally do not need voice therapy.
Trans-Woman
If you are a trans-woman hormones do not cause your voice to change. You will need to make a conscious effort to change your voice, both in terms of pitch/resonance and speech patterns.
As a general rule of thumb, changing your voice can take 1-5 years and is an ongoing process. It can take more effort to change your voice than to change your appearance, so do keep at it.
It is also worth noting that different people prioritise changing their voice differently. For some people changing their voice is simply not a priority, for others their voice is a major source of dysphoria and heavily focus on their voice. So never judge yourself against others, if another persons voice is better, use it as motivation to work on your own voice. Also remember Rome wasn't built in a day, your voice is not going to be perfect on day one of voice training, it takes ages!
Free Options
Voice Tools
Voice tools is a mobile app available on iOS, & Android. It has been developed by a local trans girl and provides visual feedback on your pitch, brightness, & resonance while also providing the ability to play back the last 10 seconds. Its a free app supported by adverts. If you want more info, or have any feedback speak to River who occasionally frequents the local support & social groups.
To get a copy simply do a search for “voice tools” in the google play store or apple app store.
TransVoiceLessons
There is a very good series of voice therapy lessons on youtube bu Zheanna Erose. If your after lessons, I think her youtube series is one of the most comprehensive and Her youtube channel can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBYlEnfAUbrYSwF0VujcmHA
LGBT Foundation Voice Coaching
The LGBT foundation in Manchester offer a free intensive weekend course ran by Dr Sean Pert in conjunction with the university of manchester. This is a two day course where voice therapy students from the university of manchester are paired with a trans person and you get 2 days of 1:1 voice therapy along with a big workshop/group session. The course obviously has a very high demand and is ran twice a year.
You can get more information on this course at the following link, to get on the course you will need to email the lgbt foundation and get added to their waiting list. https://www.lgbt.foundation/who-we-help/trans-people/voice-coaching
NHS
Voice therapy is available via the NHS for people who live in the Liverpool & Cheshire area. The NHS will provide blocks of upto six sessions of voice therapy. After your six sessions you will either be discharged, or given the option to be placed back on the waiting list for a follow-up in 1-2 years.
Voice therapy is provided by the voice therapists Sally, Chris, & Sarah Voice therapy is currently done remotely via telephone or video chat. There is a very large demand for this service, and the initial waiting times are about 12 months as of April 2022
Your first appointment at the speech and language department, usually involves a special face-to-face appointment where they put a camera down your throat to check for physical issues prior to starting voice therapy.
To be eligible you used to have to have lived in roll for 1 year and have a formal diagnosis, but this has changed. You now simply need to ask via your GP to be referred to the service. A referral to the GIC or some form of trans affirming care/diagnosis is required to prove that you are a trans person and intending to live full time as your intended gender as the service is not intended for people who are considering or just want to learn how to speak in the voice of the opposite gender.
CMagic have in April 2022 signed a 1 year contract to provide a permanent speech therapist dedicated to gender based voice therapy.
Private
As far as I'm aware, none of the local trans girls have used a private voice therapy provider in the area, or online. So I can't provide any recommendations. If anyone does have a recommendation, please update :) But in general, just use the free resources.
Exercises
So these are some of the most common