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.

翻译：社交虚拟现实（VR）是跨性别个体通过虚拟化身探索自我身份、并在线上社群中建立人际联系的重要平台。然而，该平台面临一项挑战：化身具身化与声音表征之间的脱节，常导致误判性别与骚扰行为。现有研究虽承认此问题，却忽视了变声器这一潜在解决方案。我们访谈了13位使用社交VR平台的跨性别与性别不符用户，聚焦于其在有无变声器场景下的体验。研究发现，使用变声器不仅能减少与声音相关的骚扰，还能让用户通过倾听自己变声后的声音及他人对其变声后声音的反应，体验到性别欣快感，进而激励其追求嗓音训练与药物治疗以达成理想声音。此外，我们识别了当前变声器技术的技术瓶颈，并提出了缓解跨性别与性别不符用户所面临问题的潜在改进方向。