Research Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences

The Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences Research Department was established in January 2008 as part of the major restructuring of the Faculty of Life Sciences at UCL. It includes academic staff from the former Department of Phonetics and Linguistics and Department of Human Communication Science.

Our Research

We are internationally recognised for the excellence of our research into the perception and production of speech. We combine basic research into the normal mechanisms of speech and hearing with applied research into problems caused by hearing impairment and by atypical perceptual and cognitive development. Our methodologies include behavioural experimentation, computational modelling, acoustic analysis and neuro-imaging. We provide scientific and technical expertise to a number of collaborative research projects at UCL and beyond. Within UCL we have particularly close links to the speech group of the ICN and to the Ear Institute as well as to the other research departments based in Chandler House.

Some major themes of our current research include:

• Phonetic representations of speech and their development in both first and second languages
• Prosody in speech perception and production
• Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) and the role it may have in speech/language development and communication ability.
• Translational research into auditory prostheses for speech communication involving study of the receptive capacity of the impaired auditory system for acoustic and electrical stimulation.
• Speaker individuality and variability, as expressed in perceptual skills, production or accent.

See our Projects List for more details, or browse all research activities in language sciences at UCL.