Voice changes following androgenic hormone treatment in women

Abstract

Androgenic medications have been known to cause changes to the vocal folds and to voice quality for many decades. One such androgen is Danazol, a synthetic derivative of testosterone. Although altered perceptual voice features have been consistently reported following treatment with Danazol, objective measurements of the voice changes have been limited. The current study incorporates a comprehensive assessment battery of vocal function including instrumental techniques, acoustic analysis and perceptual voice assessment, carried out before, during and after treatment with Danaz 01 in a group of 10 women. The results failed to indicate significant changes in the majority of voice parameters studied. Owing to the variability found in the group results it was clear that the vocal function of women prescribed androgenic hormones needs to be assessed on an individual basis.

Effect of testosterone therapy on the female voice

“…Although caution should be used in comparing non-equivalent studies or extracting data to non-equivalent groups, our results do support previous prospective findings by Nordenskjöld who concluded ‘no significant vocal changes in 23 patients that could be attributed to the androgenic properties of danazol therapy (600 mg/day) at 3 and 6 months’ 6 . Pattie’s subsequent objective study on ten patients treated with danazol found similar results, cautioning against reliance on perceptual descriptions of voice changes 7 .…”