Glossary
The words that get used about voice as if everyone already knows them. Some come from surgery, some from speech therapy and some from acoustics, and a consultation can move between all three in the same sentence. Each entry here gives the plain meaning first, then the context: where you will meet the word, what it has to do with how a voice is heard, and which pages go deeper.
A few entries matter more than the rest. Resonance, intonation and vocal weight describe the parts of a voice that listeners lean on at least as much as pitch, and that only practice changes. Semitone and fundamental frequency are the units surgical results are reported in, and worth understanding before anyone shows you a before-and-after number.
I add terms as they come up in the guides, so this list grows. If a word you have hit is not here, tell me and I will write it.
Terms A–Z
A
Adam's apple
The bump made by the front of the thyroid cartilage. It changes how your neck looks, not how your voice sounds.
Anterior glottic web
Tissue joining the front of the vocal folds. A complication elsewhere; in voice feminization, what glottoplasty creates on purpose.
C
Chondrolaryngoplasty
The surgical name for the tracheal shave: trimming the thyroid cartilage so the Adam's apple sits flatter. Not a voice operation.
Cricothyroid muscle
The small muscle that tilts the voice box to stretch the vocal folds. It is how you raise pitch, and what CTA imitates.
D
Dysphonia
Any voice that is hoarse, strained, weak or tires fast. It can follow surgery, and it can follow training done too hard.
F
Falsetto
The thin, high register above normal speech. It raises pitch but rarely sounds like a speaking voice, so training steers away.
Formants
The frequencies your throat and mouth amplify. They signal body size and gender independently of pitch, and training changes them.
Fundamental frequency
How fast the vocal folds vibrate, in hertz. It is what pitch is made of, and the number surgeons and apps quote.
G
Glottoplasty
Fusing the front of the two vocal folds to shorten the part that vibrates. It raises pitch and nothing else.
I
Intonation
The rise and fall of pitch across a sentence. Listeners lean on it heavily, and surgery leaves it untouched.
L
Laryngologist
An ENT surgeon specialising in the voice box. They examine the vocal folds, diagnose problems and perform voice surgery.
Larynx
The voice box: cartilage and muscle around the vocal folds. Testosterone grows it; oestrogen does not shrink it.
P
Pitch floor
The lowest note you can comfortably make. Raising it, so a tired voice has less far to fall, is often the point of surgery.
R
Resonance
How the throat and mouth colour the sound of a voice. It signals body size and gender, and only training changes it.
S
Semitone
The musical step used to report pitch changes. Twelve to an octave; it matches what the ear hears better than hertz.
Speech-language pathologist
The therapist who trains and protects your voice. Called an SLT in the UK. Most surgeons want you to have worked with one.
Stroboscopy
Filming the vocal folds under a flashing light so their vibration looks slowed down. The standard exam before and after surgery.
T
Thyroid cartilage
The shield-shaped cartilage of the voice box. Its front edge is the Adam's apple; most voice operations work on it.
V
Vocal folds
The two vibrating bands inside the voice box. Length, thickness and tension set pitch, and every voice operation works on them.
Vocal weight
How heavy or light a voice sounds. Separate from pitch, and often the thing that makes a raised voice still sound male.
Voice rest
The silence after vocal fold surgery while the join heals. It protects the result, and it is harder than people expect.
Not sure whether you need surgery?
The Start Here guide explains what pitch, resonance and training each change, and where surgery fits once you’ve found your ceiling.
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