BRUCE L SMITH, PhD portrait
  • Professor Emeritus, Communication Sciences & Disorders
801-581-6725

Research Statement

Over the course of my career, my research has been concerned with understanding the nature of the speech production, in particular the organization and motor control of speech sound production and patterns.  I have examined acoustic, kinematic, and phonologic patterns of speech by studying speech production in typically-developing children and normal adults, as well as children with speech disorders and individuals who are learning English as a second language.  These converging sources of information lead to a more complete understanding of the complex process of speech production than any of them in isolation can provide.

Research Keywords

  • Speech production
  • Speech acoustics
  • Phonological development
  • Phonetics

Presentations

  • Hacking, J., Smith, B. L., and Johnson, E. M. Utilizing Electropalatography to Train Palatalized versus Unpalatalized Consonant Productions by Native Speakers of American English Learning Russian. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 06/2016.
  • Smith, B. L. and Hayes-Harb, R., Non-native speakers’ acoustic variability in producing American English tense and lax vowels. Poster, Presented, 05/2016.
  • Thompson, H. L., Redmond, S. M. & Smith, B. L., Variables Associated with Speech Treatment Outcomes for Children with Cleft Palate . Poster, Presented, 11/2015.
  • Delong, C., Nessler, C., Bailey, D., Smith, B. L., Haley, K. and Wambaugh, J. Word duration effects of Sound Production Treatment: Looking beyond articulatory accuracy. Poster presented at the Clinical Aphasiology Conference, Monterey, CA, 2015. Poster, Presented, 05/2015.
  • Thompson, H. L., Redmond, S. and Smith, B. L. Effectiveness of a phonological intervention for preschool children with nonsyndromic cleft palate. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Asssociation, Palm Springs, CA, 2015. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 04/2015.
  • Smith, B. L. and Hayes-Harb, R. Acoustic variability in the speech of L2 learners of American English as a function of accentedness. Poster presented at the Acoustical Society of America, Providence, RI, 2014. Poster, Presented, 05/2014.
  • Smith, B. L. and Hayes-Harb, R. Non-native speakers' variability in achieving native-like English consonant and vowel productions. Paper presented at the Second Language Research Forum, 2013. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 10/2013.
  • Brown, K., Hayes-Harb, R. and Smith, B. L. Orthographic Input Effects in Production of L2 German Word Final Obstruents. Paper presented at the Second Language Research Forum, 2013. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 10/2013.
  • Hacking, J., Smith, B. L., and Nissen, S. An evaluation of Russian palatalized versus non-palatalized consonants using electropalatography. Paper presented at the 7th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech, Montreal, 2013. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 05/2013.
  • Smith, B. L. and Hayes-Harb, R. Acoustic variability of consonant and vowel productions by native and non-native speakers of English. Paper presented at the 7th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech, Montreal, 2013. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 05/2013.
  • Smith, B. L. and Peterson, E. A. Native English speakers learning German as a second language: Devoicing of final voiced stop targets. Paper presented at the Acoustical Society of America, San Diego, CA. Poster, Presented, 11/04/2011.
  • Voicing and devoicing in L1 and L2 speech production: Evidence from German and English speakers. Invited Keynote address at the annual Graduate Student Conference, Department of Linguistics, University of Utah . Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 04/2011.
  • Smith, B. L. Converging Studies of Devoicing in First and Second Language Speech Production. Invited presentation to the Phonetics and Phonology Group and School of English Faculty at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland, 2010. Presentation, Other, 07/2010.
  • Smith, B. L. and Hayes-Harb, R. Speech Production and Speech Perception Findings for Native German Speakers Learning English as a Second Language. Sixth International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech, Poznan, Poland, 2010. Presentation, Other, 07/2010.
  • Smith, B. L. and Hayes-Harb, R. Individual differences in the perception of final consonant voicing among native and non-native speakers of English. Poster presented at the Acoustical Society of America, Portland, OR, 2009. Poster, Presented, 07/2009.
  • Smith, B. L., Bruss, M., Hayes-Harb, R., and Hamilton, A. Voicing and devoicing in similar German and English word pairs by native speakers of German. Poster presented at the Acoustical Society of America, New Orleans, LA, 2007. Poster, Presented, 07/2007.
  • Smith, B. L. and Hayes-Harb, R. Individual differences in the production and perception of the voicing contrast by native and non-native speakers of English. Poster presented at the Acoustical Society of America, Salt Lake City, UT, 2007. Poster, Presented, 07/2007.
  • Acoustic and Phonetic Properties of the Speech of Non-native Talkers Learning English as a Second Language. Invited presentation, Linguistics Department, University of Utah. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 04/2007.
  • Hayes-Harb, R., Smith, B. L., Bent, T., and Bradlow, A. R. Relationships between the intelligibility and acoustic properties of native English and Mandarin-accented English. Paper presented at the Acoustical Societies of America and Japan, Honolulu, Hawaii . Poster, Presented, 11/2006.
  • Blomgren, M., Smith, B.L., Bennett, J., Straw, K., and Doyle, J. Vowel steady states revisited. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, San Diego, CA . Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 11/2005.
  • Smith, B. L., DeMille, D., Roberts, A., Bradlow, A. R., and Bent, T. Devoicing in word-final voiced stop targets produced by native and non-native speakers of English. Paper presented at the Workshop on Second Language Speech Learning sponsored by the Acoustical Society of America and the Canadian Acoustical Association, Vancouver, B.C. Poster, Presented, 05/2005.
  • Nissen, S. L., Smith, B. L., Bradlow, A., and Bent, T. Variability in vowel targets produced by native and non-native speakers of English. Paper presented at the Acoustical Society of America, San Diego, CA . Poster, Presented, 11/2004.
  • Bent, T., Bradlow, A. R., and Smith, B. L. Production and perception of a temporal contrast by native and non-native speakers. Paper presented at the Acoustical Society of America, New York City. Poster, Presented, 05/2004.
  • Smith, B. L., McGregor, K. K., and DeMille, D. Phonological development in lexically-precocious two-year-olds. Paper presented at the Child Phonology Conference, Tempe, AZ. Presentation, Presented, 04/2004.
  • Smith, B. L., Bradlow, A. R., Bent, T. (2003) Production and perception of temporal contrasts in foreign-accented English. Poster, Presented, 07/15/2003.
  • McGregor, K. K., Sheng, L., and Smith, B. L. Individual differences in the adherence to lexical principles at age two. Paper presented at the Child Language Symposium, Newcastle, England. Presentation, Presented, 07/2003.
  • Smith, B. L., Bradlow, A. R. and Bent, T. Production and perception of temporal contrasts in foreign-accented English. Paper presented at the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Barcelona, Spain. Presentation, Presented, 06/2003.
  • Smith, B. L. and McGregor, K. K. Phonological development in typically-developing and lexically-advanced two-year-old children: additional data. Paper presented at the Child Phonology Conference, Vancouver, B.C. Presentation, Presented, 05/2003.
  • Smith, B. L. , Bradlow, A. R. and Bent, T. Temporal characteristics of Chinese-accented English: Preliminary findings. Paper presented at a joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, the Iberoamerican Congress of Acoustics, and the Mexican Congress on Acoustics, Cancun, Mexic. Poster, Presented, 11/2002.
  • Smith, B. L. and McGregor, K. K. Temporal characteristics of the speech of typical and lexically-precocious two-year-old children: Preliminary observations. Paper presented at the Acoustical Society of America. Poster, Presented, 11/2002.
  • Smith, B. L. Effects of speaking rate on temporal patterns of English. Paper presented at the Acoustical Society of America. Poster, Presented, 11/2001.
  • Bent, T., Smith, B. L., Lodewyck, D., and Bradlow, A. R. Non-native speech production II: Phonemic errors by position-in-word and intelligibility. Paper presented at the Acoustical Society of America. Poster, Presented, 11/2001.
  • Kenney, M. K., Smith, B. L., and Larson, C. Temporal properties of electromyographic patterns in children’s and adults’ speech. Paper presented at the Acoustical Society of America. Poster, Presented, 05/2001.
  • Smith, B. L. and McGregor, K. K. Phonologic and temporal-acoustic analyses of the speech of lexically-precocious two-year-old children. Paper presented at the Child Phonology Conference. Presentation, Presented, 04/2001.
  • Smith, B. L. Relationships among temporal patterns of speech production in English. Paper presented at the Acoustical Society of America. Poster, Presented, 11/2000.
  • Smith, B. L. Temporal properties of speech production: What are children exposed to? Paper presented at the Child Phonology Conference. Presentation, Presented, 04/2000.

Research Equipment and Testing Expertise

  • Computer software and hardware for analysis of acoustic and electropalatographic properties of speeech. Contact: Bruce Smith , 801-585-6783 .

Languages

  • German, functional.
  • Spanish, basic.

Geographical Regions of Interest

  • Germany
  • Poland
    Taught and did research in conjunction with Fulbright Scholarship.

Publications

  • Hacking, J., Smith, B. L., Nissen, S., and Allen, H. Russian palatalized and unpalatalized consonants: an electropalatographic and acoustic analysis of native speaker and L2 learner productions, J. of Phonetics, 54, 98-108. Published, 01/2016.
  • Thompson, H. L., Stevenson, D. A., Redmond, S. M., Smith, B. L. and Viskochil, D. Communication Disorders Associated with Neurofibromatosis Type 1. In M. A. Karajannis and J. C. Allen (Eds.), Neurofibromatosis Type 1: Symptoms, Treatment and Prognosis. Nova Science Publishers: New York. Published, 06/2013.
  • Smith, B. L. and Peterson, E. A. (2012). Native English speakers learning German as a second language: Devoicing of final voiced stop targets. Journal of Phonetics, 40, 129-140. Published, 01/2012.
  • Smith, B. L. and Hayes-Harb, R. (2011). Individual differences in the perception of final consonant voicing among native and non-native speakers of English. Journal of Phonetics, 39, 115-120. Published, 07/2011.
  • Smith, B. L., Hayes-Harb, R., Bruss, M., and Harker, A. A. (2009). Production and perception of voicing and devoicing in similar German and English word pairs by native speakers of German. Journal of Phonetics, 37, 257-275. Published, 07/2009.
  • Bent, T., Bradlow, A., and Smith, B. L., (2008) Production and perception of temporal contrasts in foreign-accented English. Phonetica, 65, 131-147. Published, 07/2008.
  • Hayes-Harb, R., Smith, B. L., Bent, T., and Bradlow, A. R. (2008). The Interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit for native speakers of Mandarin: Production and perception of English word-final voicing contrasts. Journal of Phonetics, 36, 664-679. Published, 07/2008.
  • Bent, T., Bradlow, A., and Smith, B. L., Production and perception of temporal contrasts in foreign-accented English. Phonetica, 65, 131-147. Published, 07/2008.
  • Smith, B. L., McGregor, K. K., and DeMille, D. (2006). Phonological development in lexically-precocious two-year-olds. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 355-375. Published, 07/2006.
  • McGregor, K. K., Sheng, L., and Smith, B. L. (2005) The precocious two year old: Status of the lexicon and links to the grammar. Journal of Child Language, 32, 63-585. Published, 03/2005.