While interest in queer voices has long been present in linguistics and speech processing, there has been a glaring lack of trans and queer voices in research on queer speech science and technology, with trans and queer people often being excluded from the very spaces that perform research or provide services for them (Zimman 2021, Huff 2022).
At Interspeech 2024, the special session on Speech and Gender saw much discussion around trans and queer speech, and at Interspeech 2025 we held the first special session on Queer and Trans Speech Science and Technology.
We aim to continue expanding on those conversations and perspectives with this special session. By incorporating a broad range of perspectives across formal and informal communities interested in trans and queer voice (including speech technology researchers, linguists and gender-affirming voice coaches), we aim to provide a space to build community and provide a foundation for future trans- and queer-driven research on trans and queer speech science and technology.
If you would like to submit research to this session, below are topics that the session aims to incorporate.
Trans and Queer Linguistics
Trans and Queer Speech processing
Empirical investigations of algorithmic bias
Ethics of Queer and Trans Research
Datasets of Queer and Trans Voices
Ensuring Privacy for Trans and Queer Speakers
Applications related to Trans and Queer Voice Training and Modification
(Click on the titles to access the papers)
15h00 - 15h15: Web-Based Application for Real-Time Biofeedback of Vocal Resonance in Gender-Affirming Voice Training: Design and Usability Evaluation
Tara McAllister, Collin Eagen, Yi Shan, Peter Traver, Daphna Harel, Tae Hong Park, Vesna Novak
15h15 - 15h30: On the Production and Perception of a Single Speaker's Gender
Robin Netzorg, Naomi Carvalho, Andrea Guzman, Lydia Wang, Juliana Francis, Klo Vivienne Garoute, Keith Johnson, Gopala Anumanchipalli
15h30 - 15h45: Conveying Gender Through Speech: Insights from Trans Men
Alice Ross, Cliodhna Hughes, Eddie L. Ungless, Catherine Lai
15h45 - 16h00: Queer Waves: A German Speech Dataset Capturing Gender and Sexual Diversity from Podcasts and YouTube
Ingo Siegert, Jan Marquenie, Sven Grawunder
16h00 - 16h15: Reddit FlairShare: A Human-Annotated Dataset of Gender-Progressive Online Discourse
Carlos Hartmann
16h15 -16h30: Voices of `cyborg awesomeness': Posthuman embodiment of nonbinary gender expression in AI speech technologies
Maxwell Hope, Éva Székely
University of California, Berkeley (USA)
Robin is a EECS PhD candidate advised by Gopala Anumanchipalli and Bin Yu at the University of California, Berkeley. With particular interest in building technology for gender-affirming voice training, Robin specializes in modeling speaker perception and identity alongside community members and leaders. Outside of academic work, Robin co-leads two trans affinity and support groups at her university, Queers in Computer Science and Engineering (QICSE) and T-Cal.
KTH Stockholm (Sweden)
Juliana is a PhD Student in the Speech, Music, and Hearing (TMH) department at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Her research interest is focused on expressive and controllable speech synthesis speech, in part for augmentative and alternative communication devices, as well as a current focus on both methods for individuals to perform gender-affirming voice training. Juliana is also a current editor for the ISCA LGBTQI* webpage and also runs a community group and organises community events for transgender people within Stockholm.
University of Essex (UK)
Nina is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Analytics and Data Science and the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of Essex. She works at the intersection of sociolinguistics, speech technologies and AI ethics, and is particularly interested in language variation and change and the impact of speech technologies on marginalised speech communities. She has previously co-organised the 2024 Special Session on Gender, Speech Technology and Speech Science, and is a member of the ISCA Diversity Committee and LGBTQI+ group.
Utrecht University (NL)
Francisca is a PhD candidate in the Human-Centered Computing group at the Department of Information and Computing Sciences at Utrecht University. Their research focuses on non-verbal signals in oral history archives and explores new ways of interacting with these stories to bring them to a broader public. In addition to their research, Francisca is an active member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Queer Network at their university.
University of Edinburgh (UK)
Cliodhna Hughes is a Research Assistant at the University of Edinburgh. She works on a variety of speech topics, and recently completed an MPhil in Speech and Language Technology, where she worked with a trans woman to investigate the effects of facial feminisation surgery on the voice.