I’m Leemus. Here’s where I’m coming from.
I’m a New Zealander with lived experience of puberphonia. The personal material here comes from my 2024 voice diary and memoir draft. I write as someone who has lived through it, rather than as a clinician. The health explanations link to their sources and have not yet been clinically reviewed. Individual assessment and treatment belong with a qualified voice professional.
I want this to be useful both to someone looking for a name for their voice problem and to someone who has found a lower voice but is frightened to use it. I take responsibility for the words I publish: being faithful to my experience, checking factual explanations and correcting mistakes. I want the site to be useful and welcoming enough that you can find both understanding and a next step.
Experience leads
The diary and memoir are the heart of this site. Explanations and research support the story and give readers somewhere to explore further.
Sources stay visible
Health claims link to primary studies or recognised professional and government bodies wherever possible.
Limits travel with findings
Sample size, study design and relevance appear beside the headline result.
Experience stays singular
My diary and memoir describe what happened to me. They are not a timetable or treatment plan for somebody else.
Support stays personal
I share what happened to me and make room for experiences that differ. Practical suggestions are starting points you can adapt to your own life.
Corrections are explicit
Material factual changes will be dated and explained. Unsupported claims are removed, not quietly polished.
What you’ll find here
Professional guidance, primary research and medical safeguards.
Dated diary excerpts and memoir scenes, attributable to one person.
Plausible explanations, open questions or claims the current evidence cannot settle.
Corrections, in the open.
10 September 2026: Organised the site into five themes with separate reading paths. My story follows six stages from growing up to looking back after the change. Added a starting page for female readers with information from ColumbiaDoctors and ASHA.
10 September 2026: Added my retrospective account of intense shame, physical fear, hiding my lower voice, the identity crisis and the exposure therapy that helped me. These reflections are distinguished from the dated 2024 diary recordings.
10 September 2026: Reworked the tone to put experience, emotion and support first. Removed repeated diagnosis disclaimers from personal stories and navigation. Sources and specific guidance about symptoms needing care remain available.
10 September 2026: Expanded coverage of volume, consistency, effort and fatigue. Clarified the 2026 adolescent case in the treatment guide: four initial sessions preceded the three sessions involving manual laryngeal reposturing. The earlier summary mentioned only the latter stage.
9 September 2026: Removed the claim that the comparison recordings were made 38 seconds apart. The source provides upload times, not verified recording times. Diary summaries are now explicitly labelled as paraphrases.
If you spot a problem, send me a correction with the page link, the wording in question and any supporting source.