Kathe S. Perez is an American speech-language pathologist who developed a voice feminization program. She is the co-creator of the Eva app.

Life

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She initially pursued special education for teaching young children with learning and emotional difficulties, which led her to complete a Master of Arts degree from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1986[1] in speech pathology and speech and voice therapy.[2] She studied under Lorraine Ramig and interned with Robert Sataloff.[3]

In 2000, while Perez had private clinic, a transgender woman asked her for help making her voice more feminine. Perez developed a voice feminization training system,[4][5] and founded the company Exceptional Voice.[6] In 2009 Perez extended her work to develop the EvaM app for trans men.[7] In 2013, Perez and Annika Kappenstein co-created the Exceptional Voice App (Eva app), with a second version released in 2015.[8][9][10] The Eva and EvaM apps combine videos and exercises with real-time feedback to guide the voice training activities,[11] and they have been reviewed by the scientific literature.[7]

Perez has helped trained the voices of auctioneers.[12][13]

Selected works

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  • Smith, Marshall E.; Ramig, Lorraine Olson; Dromey, Christopher; Perez, Kathe S.; Samandari, Ráz (December 1995). "Intensive voice treatment in parkinson disease: Laryngostroboscopic findings". Journal of Voice. 9 (4): 453–459. doi:10.1016/S0892-1997(05)80210-3.
  • Perez, Kathe S.; Ramig, Lorraine Olson; Smith, Marshall E.; Dromey, Christopher (January 1996). "The Parkinson larynx: Tremor and videostroboscopic findings". Journal of Voice. 10 (4): 354–361. doi:10.1016/S0892-1997(96)80027-0.
  • Perez, Kathe; Lynn, Skinner (2000), Vocal versatility in your business the basics, Lakewood, CO: Vocal Versatility Productions, ISBN 0-9705402-0-5, OCLC 47890225

References

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  1. ^ "In Touch with SLHS/CDSS Alumni". University of Colorado Speech Language Practice. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
  2. ^ In Touch with SLHS/CDSS Alumni. "In Touch with SLHS/CDSS Alumni". University of Colorado Speech Language Practice. Retrieved 2013-02-27.
  3. ^ "Kathe Perez '86 | In Touch with SLHS/CDSS Alumni". www.speechlanguagepractice.org. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
  4. ^ Chen, Angela (December 15, 2015). "How Transgender Women Are Training Their Voices to Sound More Feminine". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
  5. ^ Contrera, Jessica (2015-06-05). "Learning how to be a lady? For the transgender market, coaches help". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  6. ^ Santora, Tara (October 30, 2020). "Why transfeminine vocal training can be an important part of gender-affirming therapy — and how to do it effectively". Insider. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  7. ^ a b Ahmed, Alex A; Kim, Levin; Hoffmann, Anna L (2022-04-11). "'This app can help you change your voice': Authenticity and authority in mobile applications for transgender voice training". Convergence. doi:10.1177/13548565221079459. ISSN 1354-8565.
  8. ^ Heckel, Aimee (2015-07-17). "Louisville specialist helps transgender people with key part of transition — their voices". Boulder Daily Camera. Archived from the original on 2021-02-11. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
  9. ^ Spencer, Ruth (2015-06-02). "Eva: transgender voice-training app helps women and men talk the talk". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
  10. ^ Bebinger, Martha (August 19, 2014). "How Transgender People Are Changing Their Voices". www.wbur.org. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  11. ^ Walsh, Matthias (December 26, 2021). "Transgender voice training: How to make your voice higher". LGBTQ Nation. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  12. ^ "Benefit Auction Summit to focus on presentation skills, voice care and event planning". National Auctioneers Association. 2012-08-03. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
  13. ^ Aaron, Kumasi (2018-04-09). "How an auctioneer keeps his voice going strong". Denver 7 Colorado News (KMGH). Retrieved 2022-09-04.