The Importance of Orofacial Motricity in the Work of Confirmation of Transgender Voice: An Integrative Review

Abstract

The voice is a manifestation of the muscular process, but with psychological basis, thus being an important aspect in performance and gender recognition. The transgender person finds him/herself in biological bodies not recognized by him/her. Many of them undergo hormone treatments and surgeries to suit their gender identity and value interventions in their body and voice. Objective: To explain the importance of the relationship between orofacial motricity and voice in the phonotherapeutic work to confirm the transgender voice. Methods: A literature search was conducted covering the period from 2010 to 2020, including articles with experimental validation, which discussed therapy techniques or evaluation instruments. Results: The search resulted in 1512 publications. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 31 articles were selected. After detailed analysis of the selected abstracts and prioritization of the discussion of orofacial motricity elements, nine articles were chosen for critical analysis. All selected articles contributed to clarify the research question. Conclusion: Orofacial motricity plays a fundamental role in the confirmation of the transgender voice.