Workshop: Gender-Affirming Voice Care: Modern Surgical and Non-surgical Approaches

• 08/10/2026
• 1:15 pm

Voice is a fundamental component of gender expression. Incongruence between an individual’s voice and gender identity can have a significant impact on communication, social expression, professional progress and quality of life. Gender-affirming voice care requires a multidisciplinary understanding of voice production, vocal development, hormonal effects, behavioural therapy, medical and surgical interventions.

This workshop is designed for a broad gender-healthcare audience, with particular relevance to speech and language therapists, as well as surgeons, physicians and other professionals involved in gender-affirming care. We will begin by reviewing the basic principles of voice production, voice development and the anatomical and physiological factors that contribute to typical differences in pitch, resonance and speaking characteristics between genders.

The workshop will explore surgical approaches to voice feminisation, including glottoplasty and laser-assisted reduction techniques, alongside patient selection, expected outcomes, potential complications and the management of suboptimal results. We will also discuss the important relationship between surgery and behavioural voice therapy.

For transmasculine patients, the session will review the effects and limitations of systemic testosterone, options for individuals who experience insufficient voice deepening, including direct testosterone injection into the vocal cords, and available surgical approaches to lowering fundamental frequency.

The workshop aims to provide participants with a practical framework for understanding and discussing contemporary gender-affirming voice care across professional disciplines.

Speaker

• 

  Chadwan Al Yagchi

  Mr Chadwan Al Yaghchi MD PhD FRCS DOHNS is a consultant laryngologist at the National Centre for Airway Reconstruction, Imperial College Healthcare, London. He manages the full spectrum of laryngeal disorders with a specialist interest in airway stenosis and complex dysphagia. He completed his higher surgical training in Ear Nose and Throat in the London North Thames regional rotation and laryngology training at Charing Cross Hospital. Mr Al Yaghchi is an internationally renowned specialist in gender-affirming voice surgery. He is a founding member of the International Association of TransVoice Surgeons, and regularly lectures internationally on modern approaches to gender-affirming vocal care. He introduced a number of surgical techniques to the UK including his modification of Wendler’s Glottoplasty technique and vocal fold muscle reduction and window laryngoplasty. Mr Al Yaghchi holds a PhD in Molecular Oncology from Queen Mary’s University of London studying oncolytic viruses in head and neck cancers. In addition, he has an active clinical research program in voice, airway and swallowing disorders. He published multiple book chapters, 60 peer-reviewed articles and is currently the Laryngology Section editor of Scott-Brown's Otolaryngology textbook. Mr Al Yaghchi is a founding member of the British Laryngological Association and the President-Elect. He is a deputy general-secretary of the European Laryngological Society, board member of the UK Swallowing Research Group and former Vice president of the Royal Society of Medicine, Section of Laryngology and Rhinology.