![A closeup of a person talking.](https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2024/06/n21257352/jcr:content/image.img.cq5dam.thumbnail.500.500.jpg/1718295497111.jpg)
UC creates voice-coaching app for gender expression
Exercises provide real-time feedback to help users sound more masculine or feminine
Engineers at the University of Cincinnati have developed a free voice-coaching app to help transgender and gender-diverse people sound more masculine or feminine.
The open-source app TruVox allows people to practice speaking exercises while visualizing the components of speech such as pitch to help them speak in a convincing way that matches their gender expression.
“I think your voice reflects your self-perception — not just for transgender people,” UC Associate Professor Vesna Novak said.
Associate Professor Vesna Novak in UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science studies intelligent technologies to improve human health and wellness. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand
Try the voice-coaching app
The TruVox app features several voice exercises to help people modify their voices to match their gender expression.
Novak studies intelligent technologies to improve human health and wellness in her electrical engineering lab in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. This includes rehabilitation robotics and other assistive technology.
“When we interviewed people before making the app, a few people who weren’t transgender said they didn’t like the sound of their voice,” she said. “They would say, ‘I wish I could make my voice higher or more feminine.’ But people aren’t aware that’s something they can change.”
While some people might pay to hire a speech coach, the app is available at no cost. And since it was created by a Research-1 university, users can trust it’s secure and that neither their voice nor data will be exploited.
This is engineering married to applied psychology.
Vesna Novak, UC College of Engineering and Applied Science
And ensuring privacy was paramount, she said.
“Is my data being harvested for some purpose? Will someone make fun of my voice on the internet? These are legitimate concerns,” Novak said. “People can get demotivated.”
“The acoustic analysis was not the hard part,” Novak said. “This is engineering married to applied psychology.”
Novak started with the understanding that many or even most people cringe at the sound of their own speaking voice and don’t want to hear it played back to them. There’s even a phrase in psychology for this reaction: voice confrontation.
We pick up clues about gender based on several characteristics of voice, including volume and resonance, Novak said.
“Pitch is the one everyone understands,” she said.
The app offers several exercises, including a reading task to introduce users to the app. It tracks the changing pitch of the user’s voice in real time with scrolling purple dots that appear on a hertz scale that measures frequency.
Undergraduate student Mary Wilkens in UC's College of Allied Health Sciences is working on related gender-affirming voice research to explore how speech and voice characteristics influence gender perception.
The TruVox App provides real-time feedback to help people visualize the pitch of their voice so they can make adjustments compared to the pitch of a model voice. Graphic/TruVox
It’s fun to see the display roll across the screen like a rollercoaster as you manipulate the pitch of your voice higher or lower. The app measures 100 to 300 hertz (cycles per second), the typical frequency range of speaking voices, providing real-time feedback.
A “stair” exercise allows users to try to match their pitch to particular frequencies while repeating phrases such as “drum and bugle corps” or “bigger and better.”
Another exercise helps people practice matching the pitches of actual voices while saying phrases like “bacon and eggs” or “cheese and crackers.”
It’s harder than it looks, but Novak said that’s the point. The human voice is complex and one of our most profound means of interpersonal expression.
Practicing on the app could help people avoid being misgendered by strangers during their daily routine, Novak said. The app also could have practical benefits for people facing real danger from transphobia. Transgender people are four times more likely to be the victims of violent crime than cisgender people (those whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth).
Novak plans to present the app this month at the 26th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. And she plans to add new features to address other gendered aspects of human voice such as volume and resonance.
Featured image at top: UC Associate Professor Vesna Novak developed a new app to help people match their voice to their gender expression. Photo/iStockPhoto
Innovation Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
We love ‘Lucy’ — the AI avatar redefining UC tech transfer
July 17, 2024
In a visionary leap at the University of Cincinnati, the marriage of artificial intelligence and interactive technology has birthed "Lucy," a Smarthelp AI avatar poised to revolutionize how regional industries engage with UC's tech transfer initiatives.
NIS program opens new horizons for international student
July 17, 2024
In his pursuit of physics and a taste for research, Akash Khanikor ventured from his hometown in India's Assam to the University of Cincinnati, drawn by the promise of hands-on exploration early in his undergraduate career as a NEXT Innovation Scholar.
Camp aims to empower children, teens who stutter
July 17, 2024
A one-week, evidence-based program for children and teens who stutter at the University of Cincinnati will teach kids to communicate effectively, advocate for themselves and develop confidence about their communication abilities. Camp Dream. Speak. Live., which is coming to Cincinnati for the first time July 22-26, began in 2014 at the University of Texas at Austin. The Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research at UT expects to serve more than 2,000 children at camps across the United States, Africa, Asia and Europe this year.
UC archivist explores Troy’s invisible workers
July 17, 2024
UC Classics archivist Jeff Kramer examined the unheralded and largely uncredited role laborers played in the 1930s excavation at Troy in Turkey.
CCM alum Donald Lawrence to be inducted into Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame
July 16, 2024
![The Cincinnati Herald](/content/dam/refresh/uc-news/news-icons/dark/cincinnati-herald.png)
UC College-Conservatory of Music alumnus Donald Lawrence is part of the 2024 class of Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame inductees. Located at the Banks in downtown Cincinnati, the induction ceremony on July 27 will feature a parade of stars and a free concert by the Zapp Band.
U.S. stroke survival is improving, but race still plays role
July 16, 2024
![U.S. News & World Report logo](/content/dam/refresh/uc-news/news-icons/dark/us-news.png)
U.S. News & World Report, HealthDay and Real Health covered new research from the University of Cincinnati that found overall rates of long-term survival following stroke are improving, but Black individuals experience worse long-term outcomes compared to white individuals.
Presidential challenge to UC: Join Ride Cincinnati to fight cancer
July 16, 2024
UC President Neville Pinto has again challenged every UC college and unit to send at least one rider to the September 14 Ride Cincinnati event to help fundraise for cancer research and cancer care. UC students ride free. Signup by July 31 for free UC-branded cycling jersey.
Building potential
July 16, 2024
Unexpected advice led to a new area of interest and growth for Andrew Matthews, leading him to the University of Cincinnati’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, construction management and cooperative education experiences at Turner Construction.
Pediatric ICU rates linked to housing quality, income, education
July 16, 2024
![Healio logo](/content/dam/refresh/uc-news/news-icons/dark/healio.png)
Healio highlighted research led by the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children's Hospital's Carlie Myers that found a link between pediatric ICU admission rates and housing quality, household income and education.
UC study: Long-term stroke survival improving, but racial disparities remain
July 15, 2024
New research from the University of Cincinnati published in the journal Neurology found long-term survival rates following acute ischemic strokes are improving, but Black individuals experience worse long-term outcomes compared to white individuals.