Research and Innovation>Population Risk and Healthcare>Speech, Hearing and Communication
Communication Research Group

Speech, Hearing and Communication

The Speech, Hearing and Communication research group, led by Dr Robert Mayr, has three major strands: Bilingual Development, led by Dr Robert Mayr; Healthy and Impaired Hearing, led by Prof Fei Zhao, and Clinical Speech and Language Research, led by Prof Yvonne Wren. The latter is run in partnership with the Bristol Speech and Language Therapy Research Unit (BSLTRU). Much of our work involves national and international collaborations, notably with universities in Europe, the USA, China and Japan and Australia. These have led to high-quality outputs in international journals, and presentations at national and international conferences. We have held grants from a number of funding bodies, including the EPSRC, the ESRC, the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust, Welsh Government, the NIHR and the NIH, and have several doctoral researchers.

Research / Innovation Areas


Group Members


Ria Bayliss Rhonwen Lewis
Ria Bayliss
Senior Lecturer and Academic Associate (PhD)
Dr Katherine Broomfield
Senior Research Associate
Dr Rhonwen Lewis
Senior Lecturer
Dr Robert Mayr
Reader in Linguistics (Group Lead)






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Dr Mirain Rhys
Senior Lecturer in Psychology
Dr Lucy Southby
Senior Research Fellow in Speech and Language Therapy
Prof​​ Yvonne Wren
Professor in Speech and Language Therapy
Katherine Young
Lecturer in Bilingual Research Methods and PhD student








Prof​ Fei Zhao
Reader in Hearing Sciences
Ms Nia Eyre
PhD student (joint with Cardiff University)
Ms Esther Goodhew
RCBC First Into Research Fellow
Dr Sam Harding
Health Psychologist and Research Fellow


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​Mr Tianxiang Lan
Academic Associate (PhD)
​Ms Jiaying Li
Academic Associate (PhD)
Mr ​Nadeem Mahafza
Academic Associate (PhD)
​​Dr Lydia Morgan
Research Associate






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​Dr Tariq Rahim
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Hearing Sciences)
Ms Derith Rhisiart
Academic Associate (PhD)
Ms Aysha Siddika
RCBC First Into Research Fellow
​​Kate Tucker
Academic Associate (PhD)


​​Mr Gwion Williams
Academic Associate (PhD)

Collaborators

Professor Ineke Mennen, Universität Graz, Austria

Dr Simona Montanari, California State University, Los Angeles, USA

Dr Jonathan Morris, Cardiff University, UK

Dr Yiqing Zheng, Sun Yat-sen University, China

Dr Vinaya Manchaiah, Lamar University, USA

Dr Emad Grais, University of Sheffield, Sheffield

Professor Sharynne McLeod, Charles Sturt University, New South Wales, Australia.

Professor Lawrence Shriberg, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA.

Dr Cathy Stein, Case Western University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Professor Angela Morgan, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.

Professor Cristina McKean, Newcastle University

Professor Jonathan Sandy, Bristol University


Examples of Funding

Evidence review of universal, population and targeted interventions which support speech, language and communication (SLC) development in the early years. (Wren, Y., Harding, S., McKean, C., Mayr, R., Lewis, R., Roulstone, S., Williams, A.) Welsh Government. December 2021- April 2022. £29,898.

Maximising the impact of speech and language therapy for children with speech sound disorder. (Wren, Y., Harding, S., Cleland, J., Stringer, H., Hawkes, C., Hemmings, L., Lascelles, L., Wallace, S.) NIHR Research for Patient Benefit. 2022-2023. £150,418.

Review of early language screening suitable for children in Wales. (Wren, Y., Mayr, R., Lewis, R., Roulstone, S., Williams, A.) Welsh Government. July 2021 – December 2021, £24,976.

Speech sound perception and production in Spanish/English bilingual preschoolers (Montanari, S & Mayr, R) National Institutes of Health (NIH) R15 Grant, 2021-2024, US $438,000.

Development of an Artificial Intelligence System for the Automated Diagnosis of Otitis Media with Effusion in Children (Zhao, F), NIHR AI-Award, 2021-2022, £150,000

Using a Deep Learning Algorithm for Automatically Diagnosing Childhood Otitis Media with Effusion (Zhao, F.), Global Academies Fellowship Grant, Cardiff Metropolitan University, 2021, £10,000.

Enhancing Infrastructure for Fostering a Culture of Digital Healthcare and Adopting Artificial Intelligence Technology in Healthcare Provision (Zhao, F. & Grais, E.) Ser Cymru III Enhancing Competitiveness Infrastructure Award, 2019-2020, £9697.2.

When your native language sounds foreign: Characterising foreign accent in first language attrition, (Mennen, I. & Mayr, R.), FWF [Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Austria] Stand-alone Project Grant, 2020 – 2023, €398.436,53.

Innovative Approaches for Investigating Hearing Sensitivity in Childhood Otitis Media with Effusion: Clinical Investigation vs. Theoretic Analysis (Fei Zhao), Chinese Association of Audiology and Beijing Bio-Engineering Research Centre,2017-2020, £91,000.