Springboard, Roadblock or "Crutch"?: How Transgender Users Leverage Voice Changers for Gender Presentation in Social Virtual Reality
Kassie Povinelli, Yuhang Zhao
TL;DR
This study investigates how TGNC users leverage voice changers in social VR to address voice-based misgendering and harassment, and to explore gender embodiment through avatars. Through in-depth interviews with 13 TGNC participants, the authors reveal that voice changers can both reduce harassment and induce gender euphoria, while also serving as training wheels or goal benchmarks for real-world voice training. The findings highlight a nuanced relationship where voice changers act as both a facilitator and a potential barrier to voice training, and they identify major usability and accessibility challenges, including presets, interface complexity, AI-resource demands, and paywalls. The work offers design recommendations for more usable voice changer tools, frames voice changers as a potential springboard for transgender voice therapy, and suggests integrating social VR as a safe space for passive training and iterative voice development with broader future work across platforms.
Abstract
Social virtual reality (VR) serves as a vital platform for transgender individuals to explore their identities through avatars and foster personal connections within online communities. However, it presents a challenge: the disconnect between avatar embodiment and voice representation, often leading to misgendering and harassment. Prior research acknowledges this issue but overlooks the potential solution of voice changers. We interviewed 13 transgender and gender-nonconforming users of social VR platforms, focusing on their experiences with and without voice changers. We found that using a voice changer not only reduces voice-related harassment, but also allows them to experience gender euphoria through both hearing their modified voice and the reactions of others to their modified voice, motivating them to pursue voice training and medication to achieve desired voices. Furthermore, we identified the technical barriers to current voice changer technology and potential improvements to alleviate the problems that transgender and gender-nonconforming users face.