SITE SUMMARY
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Pitch exercises are provided in a hierarchical approach, starting with beginner exercises of sustained pitch and resonant chanting, and more advanced exercises of heteronyms and 4-syllable phrases.
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Visual feedback is provided across all exercises to assist users in monitoring pitch accuracy.
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Users can choose from a variety of example speakers to help practice a range of voice types and styles.
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Users can create a profile to help save their individual settings and progress within the site.
See example TruVox videos that describe a vocal warm-up and a TruVox chanting demonstration.
Vocal Warm-up 1: BREATH SUPPORT & CONTROL
Developing a stable breath is an important step to begining your vocal warm up. Your breath supports your voice. Watch this video to practice your breath support. (YouTube Video)
Exercise Demo Video 3: CHANTING
Chanting will help you to translate your hummed target pitch to a chanted phrase. (YouTube Video)
RESEARCH
DESIGN AND USABILITY ASSESSMENT
This paper presents the main technical features and results of a single-session usability evaluation with five transfeminine participants. We further present future plans for expansion to other exercises and voice aspects (particularly resonance) as well as plans for clinical trials.​
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Wang, X., Weese, S., McAllister, T., McKenna, V.S., & Novak, V. (2024). Design and usability evaluation of a web-based pitch control training app for transgender women. International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, 2114, 224-234. PDF.
VOCAL MODELS
Seven transgender participants practiced with the website and provided positive feedback on vocal models for pitch training. Many participants reported that the vocal model targets were attainable, but consistently recommended a larger range of representative voices, particularly regarding lower-pitched examples and larger age range.
Wilkens, M.E., Novak, V.D., & McKenna, V.S. (2024). “Perspectives on using Vocal Models to Guide Pitch Training in Transfeminine Patients.” Fall Voice Conference, Phoenix, AZ. [Poster Presentation]. PDF.
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​PILOT CLINICAL TRIAL
6 transfeminine participants completed 4 weeks of training with TruVox Pitch and Resonance Training software. Participants showed improvements in pitch by 4.5 ST (sustained vowel) and 1.4 ST (continuous speech), as well as increased F2 resonance by 63 Hz. Large effect size improvements were found for the Gender Voice Index, portions of the Utah Gender Presentation Scale, and ratings of voice satisfaction.​
McKenna, V.S., David, K., Wilkens, M.E., Eagen, C., Gustin, R.L., McAllister, T., & Novak, V.D. (2025). “Multi-Session Pitch and Resonance Training with Visual-Acoustic Feedback and Structured Exercise for Vocal Feminization.” USPATH, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM. [Oral Presentation].
SINGLE SESSION RESONANCE TRAINING
Transfeminine participants completed single-session training with TruVox Resonance Training Software, with ratings indicating the website had acceptable-to-good usability. Further, 8/10 participants showed trends towards increased F2 resonance values, indicating brighter, more feminine resonance.
McAllister, T., Eagen, C., McKenna, V.S., Shan, Y., Traver, P., Garner, J., Harel, D., Park, T.H., & Novak, V. (2025). “Real-Time Resonance Biofeedback for Gender-Affirming Voice Training: Usability Testing of a Web-Based Application.” Journal of Voice, in press.​
SINGLE SESSION PITCH TRAINING
21 transfeminine participants completed a single-session training with the TruVox Pitch Training Software where they showed high levels of intrinsic motivation during training and showed significant improvement in attaining pitch targets for 6/7 exercises.
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Weese, S.R., Wilkens, M.E., Jadhav, O., Wang, X., Bhanushali, A., DiLoreto, T., Kozel, R., Gustin, R.L., McAllister, T., McKenna, V.S., & Novak, V.D. (2025). Development and single-session evaluation of TruVox: web-based software for vocal pitch training in transgender people. Journal of Medical Internet Research Formative Research, 9, e73841.​
“I really liked being able to hear the models and then practice saying the things myself. It’s very hard to only read things and use a pitch analyzer to know if you’re saying things right. I think it may help you keep in mind things like resonance and stuff as well, not focus solely on pitch as you do pitch exercises. I loved how it would light up with a different color when you hit the pitch correctly.”
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(L), PARTICIPANT
FUNDING
This work is funded by an NIH NIDCD R21 Award.
THANK YOU TO OUR TEAM
OF CONTRIBUTORS:
Victoria McKenna, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Vesna Novak, Ph.D.
Renee Gustin, M.S., CCC-SLP
Sam Weese
Xiangyi Wang
Om Jadhav
Mary Wilkens
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