Hirsch’s Acoustic Assumptions: Nuancing Resonance
for a Gender-Affirming Voice
Presented by Sandy Hirsch
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Nonfinancial: Sandy Hirsch is a contributing author for ASHA’s Voice and Communication Services for Transgender and Gender Diverse Populations page and Georgia Dacakis’s “A History of Voice and Communication Training” in the Speech Pathology With Trans and Gender Diverse People online course at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. She has no competing nonfinancial interests or relationships with regard to the content presented in this course.
Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people are faced with a myriad of resonance puzzles. Additionally, there are varied approaches to resonance in gender-affirming voice training (GAVT) that continue to lack clear guidelines to help clinicians guide clients in gaining agency over their vocal instrument. This course will provide participants with evidence-based therapeutic applications of an acoustic solution called Hirsch’s Acoustic Assumptions to solve resonance puzzles. It is assumed that participants will have some experience working with the TGNC population; however, the course will provide voice clinicians and voice teachers of all levels with organized, creative, thought-provoking, functional solutions to resonance challenges. Practitioners will gain an understanding of resonance challenges, learn to disentangle multiple physiologic variables affecting voice and speech output, and learn how to train their clients to execute desired resonance changes using systematic modifications applicable to a wide spectrum of unique vocal goals. Participants will develop tools that they will be able to put to immediate use in their practice across all clinical settings and the studio. This course is part 1 of a two-part series. The second course will launch in the catalog soon after the webinar and will show demonstrations of Hirsch’s Acoustic Assumptions solution to achieve upper-range/feminine goals, lower-range/masculine goals, and nonbinary goals.
Meet your instructor
Sandy Hirsch
Sandy Hirsch, MS, CCC/SLP, is a licensed and board-certified speech-language pathologist with over 30 years of experience as a clinician, trainer, and educator. She received her MS in speech-language pathology in 1989 from the University of Washington and holds a BA in French and classics (1981) with a minor in music from…
Chapters & learning objectives
1. What Are Hirsch’s Acoustic Assumptions?
In this chapter, Hirsch will describe the premise for developing an organized resonance approach with TGNC populations.
2. Anecdotal and Evidence-Based Support for Hirsch’s Acoustic Assumptions
In this chapter, Hirsch will delineate the scientific underpinnings of the Acoustic Assumptions.
3. Putting the Pieces Together: Applying the Assumptions to Unique Vocal Goals
In this chapter, Hirsch will give a step-by-step description of the Acoustic Assumptions and how to apply them clinically.
4. Summarizing Hirsch's Acoustic Assumptions: How Wide Is the Application?
This approach can be applied to any language or accent; the vocal is the vocal tract, after all. In this chapter, Hirsch will summarize how the physiological gesture gives rise to the acoustic output every single time.
