Special Announcement

23 Apr 2025

The Office of the Department of English and Communication has moved to 9/F, PolyU Hung Hom Bay Campus, 8 Hung Lok Road, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong w.e.f. 14 April 2025.

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Academic Staff

Dr Bruce Xiao Wang

Dr Bruce Xiao Wang

Research Assistant Professor

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Research Overview

My main research interests lie in forensic speech science, sociophonetics, acoustic phonetics, Bayesian statistics and the evaluation of voice evidence. My work in sampling variability in forensic voice comparison contributes to the on-going discussion of validity and reliability in the forensic evidence comparison. I argue that forensic experts should focus on measuring and minimising uncertainty, not maximising discriminability. I also maintain active research interest in articulatory phonetics and disordered speech. I use Electromagnetic articulography (EMA) investigating the interpretability of acoustic signals from an articulatory perspective.

Education and Academic Qualifications

  • Ph.D. in Linguistics, University of York
  • M.Sc. in Forensic Speech Science, University of York
  • B.A. in Translation and Communication (Joint), Shanghai Maritime University/University of Portsmouth

Academic and Professional Experience

  • Research Assistant Professor (2023-), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
  • Postdoctoral fellow (2022-2023), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
  • Lecturer in Phonetics (2021-2022), Newcastle University, UK

Teaching Areas

  • Phonetics
  • Sociolinguistics

Research Interests

  • Research Interests
  • Forensic speech science/forensic voice comparison
  • Forensic statistics
  • Acoustic and articulatory phonetics
  • Sociophonetics

Research Output

  1. Wang, B. X. & Hughes, V. (2024). Balancing validity and reliability as a function of sampling variability in forensic voice comparison. Science & Justice. 64(6), 649–659. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scijus.2024.10.002
  2. Wang, B. X., Chen, S., Zhou, F., …, Chan, A. & Tang, T. (2024) English prosodic focus marking by Cantonese trilingual children with and without autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_JSLHR-23-00508
  3. Chan, R. & Wang, B. X. (2024). Do long-term acoustic-phonetic features and mel-frequency cepstral coefficients provide complementary speaker-specific information for forensic voice comparison?. Forensic Science International. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2024.112199
  4. Chan, R. & Wang, B. X. (2024). Modelling lexical tones for speaker discrimination. Language and speech. https://doi.org/10.1177/002383092412617
  5. Coretta, S., Casillas, J. V., Roessig, S.,... & Wang, B. X. (2023). Multidimensional signals and analytic flexibility: Estimating degrees of freedom in human-speech analyses. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 6(3), https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245923116256.
  6. Wang, B. X. (2022). The effect of sampling variability on overall performance and individual speakers’ behaviour in likelihood ratio-based forensic voice comparison. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, 29 (1), 99–103. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.23731
  7. Wang, B. X., Hughes, V. and Foulkes, P. (2022) The effect of sampling variability on systems and individual speakers in likelihood ratio-based forensic voice comparison. Speech Communication, 138, 38–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2022.01.009
  8. Wang, B. X., Hughes, V. and Foulkes, P. (2019) The effect of speaker sampling in likelihood ratio based forensic voice comparison. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, 26(1): 97-120.

  1. Gao, X. Y., Wang, B. X., Zhang, M., Huang, S. M., Zhu, L., Nayak, S. & Coler, M. (2025). A Multimodal Chinese Dataset for Cross-Lingual Sarcasm Detection. Proceedings of INTERSPEECH 2025, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

  2. Lin, Y. L. & Wang, B. X. (2024). Exploring Sibilant Merge Patterns of Speaker Profiling in Taiwan. Proceedings of the 38th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation (PACLIC 38). Tokyo, Japan. 7th – 9th, 2024.

  3. Chan, R. & Wang, B. X. (2024). Can Phonetic theories predict speaker discrimination performance? Proceedings of the 38th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation (PACLIC 38). Tokyo, Japan. 7th – 9th, 2024.

  4. Chen, S., Wang, B.X., Hong, Y.T., Zhou, F., Chan, A., Tang, P.Y., Li, B., Wen, C.Y., Cheung, J., Liu, Y., Chen, Z.M. (2024) Acoustic changes in speech prosody produced by children with autism after robot-assisted speech training. Proceedings of INTERSPEECH 2024, Kos Island, Greece.

  5. Cao, G., Hughes, V., Wang, B. X. & Mok, P. (2024) Cross-language Forensic Voice Comparison of Hong Kong Trilingual Speakers Using Filled Pauses and an Automatic Speaker Recognition System. Proceedings of The 14th International Symposium on Chinese Spoken Language Processing (ISCSLP). Beijing, China. 7th - 10 November, 2024.

  6. Wong, M. N., Wang, B. X., Sun, Y., Song, Z., Ng, H., Y., Lam, H. C. & Zheng, Y., P. (2024). A preliminary study estimating the articulatory space of Cantonese-speaking healthy adults using ultrasound tongue imaging. Proceedings of Ultrafest XI. University of Aizu, Japan.

  7. Wang, B.X., Hughes, V. (2022) Reducing uncertainty at the score-to-LR stage in likelihood ratio-based forensic voice comparison using automatic speaker recognition systems. Proc. Interspeech 2022, 5243-5247, doi: 10.21437/Interspeech.2022-518

  8. Wang, B.X., Hughes, V. (2021) System Performance as a Function of Calibration Methods, Sample Size and Sampling Variability in Likelihood Ratio-Based Forensic Voice Comparison. Proc. Interspeech 2021, 381-385, doi: 10.21437/Interspeech.2021-267
  9. Wang, B. X., Hughes, V. and Foulkes, P. (2019) Effect of score sampling on system stability in likelihood ratio based forensic voice comparison. Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS). Melbourne, Australia. pp. 3065 – 3069.
  10. Rose, P. and Wang, B. X. (2016) Cantonese forensic voice comparison with higher-level features: likelihood ratio-based validation using F-pattern and tonal F0 trajectories over a disyllabic hexaphone. Proceedings of Odyssey 2016 The Speaker and Language Recognition Workshop. Bilbao, Spain. pp. 326-333.
  1. Myggassov, A., Wang, B. X., Sun, Y., Wang, S. Y., Huang, S. M., Wong, M. N.  & Zheng, Y. P. (2025). Tongue skeletal muscle variation in articulation among healthy speakers and speakers with Parkinson’s disease – a preliminary study. Poster Presentation at the International Symposium on Smart and HAPPI Aging: Healthy, Active, Positive, Prepared, and Independent. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China. 28th November, 2025.
  2. Chan, R. & Wang, B. X. (2025). ISO 21043-4 from the perspective of forensic voice comparison. Oral Presentation at the 5th International Symposium on Sino Swiss Evidence Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. 7 - 9 September, 2025.
  3. Wang, B. X. (2025). Individual Variability across Different Systems in Forensic Voice Comparison. Presentation at the First Symposium on the Development of Forensic Evidence Comparison Paragigms 第一届物证鉴定范式发展研讨会, Gao Mi, Shandong, China. 19 – 20 August, 2025. 
  4. Gao, X. Y., Wang, B. X., Zhang, M., Huang, S. M., Zhu, L., Nayak, S. & Coler, M. (2025). A ultimodal Chinese Dataset for Cross-Lingual Sarcasm Detection. Presentation at the 26th INTERSPEECH Conference. Rotterdam, The Netherlands. 17 – 21 August, 2025.
  5. Wang, B. X., Huang, S. M. & He, L. (2025). A new resource for Cantonese Forensic Voice Comparison. Poster presentation at the 33rd International Association for Forensic Phonetics & Acoustics. Den Haag, The Hague, The Netherlands. 20-23 July 2025.
  6. He, L. & Wang, B. X. (2025). Between-speaker variability in information flow rate through temporal changes of spectral composition in speech signals. Oral presentation at the 33rd International Association for Forensic Phonetics & Acoustics. Den Haag, The Hague, The Netherlands. 20-23 July 2025.
  7. Huang, S. M. & Wang, B. X. (2025). Speaker Variation in Hong Kong Cantonese Filled Pause. Oral presentation at the eighth forum on Cantonese Linguistics. University of Hong Kong. 21st June 2025.
  8. Wang, B. X., Huang, S. M. & Chan, R. (2025). Speaker discriminatory power of Cantonese filled pause. Oral presentation at UK and Ireland Speech Workshop. University of York, York, UK. 16th – 17th June 2025.
  9. Gao, X. Y., Wang, B. X., Nayak, S. & Coler, Matt. (2025). Levering Multimodal Large Language Models for sarcasm understanding. Oral presentation at Humanistic insights for human-machine language technologies (HuMaLa). University of Granada, Spain. 24 – 25 June, 2025.
  10. Chan, R. & Wang, B.X. (2025). Complementarity of acoustic-phonetic and automatic approaches in forensic voice comparison: the case of long-term features. Oral presentation at Humanistic insights for human-machine language technologies (HuMaLa). University of Granada, Spain. 24 – 25 June, 2025.
  11. Wong, M. N., Wong, E. C. H., Wang, B. X., Cheng, O. T. K., Ng, J. H. J. & Ng, C. W. Y. (2025). Efficacy of an online self-pace Cantonese phonetic transcription training module for speech therapy students. Presentation at International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association (ICPLA). University of Patras, Greece. 24th – 27th June, 2025.

Others

Principal Investigator

2026 – 2029
• The role of AI in courtroom evidence evaluation: showcasing the impact in forensic voice comparison in Hong Kong. General Research Fund Hong Kong 25-26 submission. $986,808 HKD.

2026 – 2029
• Tongue skeletal muscle examination using ultrasonography as a diagnostic tool for dysarthric speech. Young Innovative Research Award, Hong Kong PolyU. $500,000 HKD.

2026 – 2029
• Faculty Award for Integration of Technology and Humanities 2025. Hong Kong PolyU. $200,000 HKD.

2025 – 2026
• Decoding Sarcasm in Mandarin: A Linguistic-phonetic Approach. Internal Fund. $226,800 HKD. 

2024 - 2026
• Evidential value of Cantonese speech sounds in forensic voice comparison. Start-up Fund for RAPs under Strategic Hiring Scheme. $300,000 HKD

• Unravelling the Enigma: Investigating the Articulatory Underpinnings of Mel-frequency Cepstral Coefficients in Speech Analysis. Start-up Fund for New Recruits. $200,000 HKD.


 

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