The Otorhinolaryngology Service of the Hospital Quirónsalud Marbella (Málaga) is immersed in a research study on an application in order to enable the patient to access a correct evaluation that reinforces the desired clinical results after operations to change the tone of the vocal cords (feminization and masculinization).
It is a scientific project, they have informed through a statement, whose purpose is evaluate the usefulness of a mobile application as an evaluation tool and follow-up of the surgical intervention in which the pre- and post-operative period is considered highly relevant and influential for achieving the expected timbre of voice.
“The objective The main objective of this work is the validation of a Exercise program available to patients in a mobile terminal that allows biomechanical analysis as an assessment tool in the process of an intervention of voice pitch change“, has detailed the ear specialist Felipe Benjumea Flores.
The specialist assures that the data obtained will serve to make a exercise routine to be integrated into clinical practiceeither in face-to-face consultation or in the field of telematic appointment.
The study started on last April and it is estimated that it will last for the next few monthsuntil the end of the year. Regarding the selection of patients, they are transgender women who have undergone surgery in the hospital itself.
“We started the recruitment in the Otorhinolaryngology consultation itself where patients with gender dysphoria are identified by voice serious (they reject her tone of voice because they consider it inconsistent with the stereotype of women)”, explained the specialist.
Thus, he has indicated that they are patients “who undergo the voice feminization intervention and subsequent speech therapy”. “Once the operation was carried out, we began the field work with the evaluation of the physical and auditory parameters that this digital application allows us”, he pointed out.
This study of the potential use of the mobile device as an adjuvant after the voice change operation “is unique in its kindthere is currently no other similar active research”, they have specified from Quirónsalud.
They have indicated that this is mainly due to the fact that Hospital Quirónsalud Marbella “has positioned itself in the country as center of reference in voice feminization interventions“In fact, they have pointed out that the Otorhinolaryngology service, co-directed by doctors Juan Carlos Casado and Carlos O’Connor, was the first in Spain to perform this surgery called glottoplasty in 2013.
“During these years we have perfected our technique, the results have been significantly improved and we are much more agile in the operating room. We have even patented specific surgical instruments to access with greater safety and perform sutures with precision on the vocal cords”, Dr. Casado underlined.
Casado is the only specialist in Spain member of the International Association of Trans Voice Surgeons (International Association of TransVoice Surgeons), created this year in Germany, the birthplace of the Wendler gotoplasty.
This platform, founded by just 12 specialists coming from different countries, was created with the aim of improve the quality of voice care and surgical techniques for transsexual women. In addition, it will promote professional training and research on vocal pitch change surgery.
The glottoplasty it’s a modification of a larynx anatomically male into an anatomically female larynx. To do this, the vocal cords are shortened and mass removed to reduce vibration when the air leaves and, consequently, lower the tone of the voice. This operation is non-invasive and does not leave external scars.
The Quirónsalud Hospital Group currently has eight hospitals in Andalusia located in the cities of Malaga, Marbella, Los Barrios (Cádiz), three in Seville (Sagrado Corazón, Infanta Luisa, Materno-Infantil), Córdoba and Huelva, in addition to 18 specialty and diagnostic medical centers and a surgical day hospital.