Vocal Approach to Transgender Individuals: The Journey Taken in Chile and Argentina

Abstract

In recent years, there have been international references to the vocal approach for the specific group of transgender individuals, although the Latin American literature is still very timid on this matter. The purpose of this article is to identify the current norms, statistics, and vocal approach towards transgender individuals in Chile and Argentina, considering the experience of two speech and language pathologists with more than twenty years of experience on voice therapy. Reflections were made on the transgender reality in these countries, the limitations in the implementation of the depathologization of the transgender group were outlined, some current and unreliable statistics were presented, some innovative actions in the public system were highlighted, and the lack of knowledge about the benefits of vocal work for transgender men and women was discussed. The identified aspects could benefit from multicenter research that strengthens speech therapy actions with this group, contributing to depathologization and positive approach.

Keywords

• Transgender people
• voice training
• voice
• vocology
• health services for transgender persons
• gender identity