From squeaker to deep speaker: American man, 26, travels to Turkey for $8,000 surgery to deepen his high-pitched voice after being teased for sounding girly – do YOU think it was worth it after hearing the results?

• American man, 26, who was not named, had a ‘dramatic’ change in his voice
• Individual went for ‘voice masculinization’ surgery to make it sound deeper
• READ MORE: The truth about transgender surgery… in numbers 

An American man whose voice was so high that people kept mistaking him for a woman has undergone surgery to make it sound deeper.

The 26-year-old, who was not named, received a ‘voice masculinization’ operation where doctors tweaked the vocal cords to make them more relaxed and produce a lower sound.

The doctor — based in Istanbul, Turkey — who carried out the more than $8,000 procedure said his patient had a ‘dramatic change’ in their voice.

He added that the patient felt the deeper voice had allowed his ‘whole life’ to change and improved both his professional and social life.

A 26-year-old man, from the United States, went for voice surgery after they kept being mistaken for a woman. Pictures are shown above from before and after surgery

The voice is generated when air is exhaled through the vocal cords — which form a V-shape in the throat and are attached to a neck of cartilage within the larynx.

The sound is largely determined by the tension and length of the vocal cords, with women tending to have tighter and shorter cords and men ‘looser’ and longer ones.

During voice masculinization surgery, doctors manipulate the cartilage to reduce the tightness of the vocal cords and raise their length.

Jessica Alves prepares to undergo voice feminization surgery 

The media personality, 38, flew to Thailand in May last year for the operation.

This means that they start to vibrate at a lower frequency and produce a lower-pitched sound.

Other voice masculinization methods include making a web, or scar band, at the front of the ‘V’ in order to shorten them and make a voice sound deeper.

This surgery is often offered to transgender adults, who identify with a different gender to the one they were assigned at birth. 

Before surgery, the patient was shown saying: ‘I’m here for voice masculinization surgery so people don’t mistake me for a woman.’

And after the surgery, he was shown saying — with a much deeper voice: ‘I just had the surgery, not very painful, just felt weird.

‘Yeah, I’m very happy with [my new voice].’ 

Dr Kursat Yelken, an ear, nose and throat specialist who has his own clinic, said: ‘This guy is 26 years old and his voice frequency is somewhere between a male and female vocal range, close to the male upper limit.

‘His main concern was occasionally to be perceived as a female on the phone.

‘During surgery, I tried several different voice tones and finalized the procedure when we found a satisfying deepness level.’

Describing the surgery, he said: ‘A diamond-shaped cartilage island was made on the thyroid cartilage and pushed back, which allows vocal cords to become relaxed and produce a deeper voice.

‘The decrease in the voice pitch is directly related to the amount of cartilage relaxation.

‘I talk with the patient during surgery and listen to their voice.

‘The patient can experience a change in their voice during the surgery.

The above picture shows Dr Kursat Yelken, who runs a clinic in Istanbul, Turkey, carrying out the surgery. The picture on the screen behind him shows the vocal cords

Dr Yelken, who revealed the surgery online, said the patient had a ‘dramatic’ change in their voice

‘It is possible to go back and forth and choose the best tone for the patient.

‘The procedure is completed when the right pitch of the voice is decided upon by both parties.’

He added: ‘This patient had a dramatic change in his voice after surgery.

‘When we made a follow-up video consultation a couple of months after, he said his whole life, including social and work life, has been changed.’

Dr Yelken, a professor of ear, nose and throat diseases, has been changing people’s lives for the past 15 years, altering the pitch of their voices permanently.

Seeing roughly 100 to 150 patients a year, he performs procedures to both deepen or heighten their tone by relaxing or tightening their vocal cords.

Research suggests a deeper voice gives someone an ‘aura’ of power, authority and sexual allure.

But a higher voice, on the other hand, was more closely related to signals of femininity.

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