Speech and language clinicians working with transsexual individuals may use the results of this review for goal setting. Further research is required to redress the significant risk of bias.

Objectives/Hypothesis: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) on vocal functions in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma following radiation therapy.Study Design: Prospective, randomized controlled trial. Methods: One hundred forty newly treated NPC patients were recruited and randomized into NMES or traditional swallowing exercise (TE) group. Participants received intensive NMES or traditional swallowing therapy and were followed up until 12 months postrandomization. Fifty-seven participants completed the treatment and all of the follow-up assessments. The Voice Handicap Index-30 (VHI-30) was used to measure the vocal functions of the participants.Results: The NMES group showed no significant changes to their vocal functions, whereas the TE group showed a short-term deterioration of voice functions at the 6-month follow-up. VHI-30 scores returned to the baseline level for both groups at the 12-month follow-up.Conclusions: NMES is shown to provide a short-term benefit on vocal functions for NPC patients following radiation therapy.

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Purpose The aim of the study was to examine associations between speaking fundamental frequency ( f os ), vowel formant frequencies ( F ), listener perceptions of speaker gender, and vocal femininity–masculinity. Method An exploratory study was undertaken to examine associations between f os , F 1 – F 3 , listener perceptions of speaker gender (nominal scale), and vocal femininity–masculinity (visual analog scale). For 379 speakers of Australian English aged 18–60 years, f os mode and F 1 – F 3 (12 monophthongs; total of 36 F s) were analyzed on a standard reading passage. Seventeen listeners rated speaker gender and vocal femininity–masculinity on randomized audio recordings of these speakers. Results Model building using principal component analysis suggested the 36 F s could be succinctly reduced to seven principal components (PCs). Generalized structural equation modeling (with the seven PCs of F and f os as predictors) suggested that only F 2 and f os predicted listener perceptions of speaker gender (male, female, unable to decide). However, listener perceptions of vocal femininity–masculinity behaved differently and were predicted by F 1 , F 3 , and the contrast between monophthongs at the extremities of the F 1 acoustic vowel space, in addition to F 2 and f os . Furthermore, listeners' perceptions of speaker gender also influenced ratings of vocal femininity–masculinity substantially. Conclusion Adjusted odds ratios highlighted the substantially larger contribution of F to listener perceptions of speaker gender and vocal femininity–masculinity relative to f os than has previously been reported.

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