One area of phonetics is about how we perceive and produce speech sounds  (what makes a ‘t’ sound sounds like a ‘t’ as opposed to a ‘d’ sound?). In particular, we are interested in how the acoustic environments around us affect how we perceive speech sounds of different languages such as Māori and Japanese, through the use of virtual acoustics. Using our knowledge of phonetics and speech acoustics, we can create effective ways to acquire second language sounds. 

Publications/conference presentations relevant to this research

• Yusuke Hioka; C. T. Justine Hui; Hinako Masuda; Catherine I. Watson. Using virtual sound reproduction for studying L1/L2 speech perception in varying acoustic environments. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 154. A33-A33. 10.1121/10.0022702.