In November, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) approved more than $200,000 in research grants to develop an app to help men who identify as transgender sound like women.
of Grantbeginning report The College Fix will be approved by the NIH Division of Hearing and Other Communication Disorders in November 2023 and will be managed by Vesna Dominika Novak. transgender Associate professor at the University of Cincinnati. According to project details, the NIH has approved $213,878 in funding from December 2023 to November 2024, and Novak’s team will help biological males who identify as transgender “female” Now you can create a smartphone app that trains you to speak like a woman. (Related: When school put tampon dispenser in boys’ bathroom, it took about 20 minutes for kids to rebel)
“Transgender and gender diverse people have a significantly lower quality of life than the general population,” the grant summary states. “One reason for this is vocal discomfort; the distress caused by a person’s voice not matching their gender identity (e.g., a low-pitched trans woman). Reducing this voice and gender mismatch can improve quality of life. can be improved, but difficult to achieve… One way to make GAVT more accessible is through smartphones that provide audio information, suggest exercises, and provide feedback on exercise performance. or by using computer-based software.”
ACLU march participants speak out and hold placards in support of the rights of transgender people and drag performers during the 2023 LA Pride Parade in Hollywood, June 11, 2023 in Los Angeles, California Tachi. (Photo courtesy of Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The summary also claims that going to a speech therapist is “time consuming.” [and] It’s expensive, and there aren’t enough people specializing in gender-affirming voice and communication training (GAVT). Once complete, the app will incorporate “visual-acoustic biofeedback” to tell users how their voice sounds and provide suggestions on how to make it sound more feminine.
In the study, 40 biological men who identify as transgender will use the researchers’ “prototype” app and meet online weekly, according to the grant. Researchers prescribe “homework” of varying difficulty during the week.
“Self-reported daily practice (primary outcome), self-reported self-efficacy, and intrinsic motivation scores will be compared between groups. Upon completion of this project, the visual-acoustic biographies of pitch and resonance will be evaluated. “This is the first GAVT software to combine feedback and structured exercise, a highly requested but currently unavailable feature in such software,” the summary reads. .
The NIH and Novak did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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