Professor somehow still getting federal funds to create ‘transgender voice training’ app

A taxpayer-funded research project meant to combat transgender people’s “voice dysphoria” is alive and well despite President Donald Trump’s federal spending cuts.

University of Cincinnati Professor Vesna Novak is leading a study aimed at creating “transgender voice training” software with funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the College Fix first reported. The government is slated to pour $214,998 into the project in Fiscal Year 2025 while the Trump administration works to reduce what conservatives call waste and abuse of taxpayer funds, including for other transgender-related research.

“Transgender and gender diverse people exhibit a significantly lower quality of life than the general public,” reads an abstract for the research. “One reason for this is voice dysphoria: distress because a person’s voice does not match their gender identity (e.g., trans women with deep voices).”

“Reducing this voice-gender incongruence can improve quality of life, but is difficult to achieve,” the abstract says. Thus, researchers will attempt to lay the groundwork for “smartphone or computer-based software that delivers information about voice, suggests exercises, and provides feedback on exercise performance.”

Novak, a man who identifies as a woman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.  

The project has largely been funded by the NIH’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, though the Biden administration never explained how it fits with that agency’s particular health focus.

BREAKING – Our new @DOGE report found that the Biden Admin spent more than $174 million tax dollars towards promoting gender ideology and trans indoctrination. pic.twitter.com/AaVSBhjPTK

— Terry Schilling (@Schilling1776) February 6, 2025

The Trump administration has walked back funding that began before the president returned to office for numerous projects advancing LGBTQ ideology in the U.S. and abroad. One of the most highly-publicized examples was $8.2 million NIH-funded research on “gender-affirming” hormone therapy for mice. Novak’s project began in December 2023 under former President Joe Biden, NIH records show.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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