Editors’ introduction

Phonetics, the branch of linguistics concerned with the production and perception of speech sounds, has experienced tremendous growth in recent years. As the chapters in this handbook indicate, phonetics is involved in speech technology and computing; social media and advertising; legal proceedings; second language instruction; and speech, hearing, and language pathology. As people increasingly communicate with “virtual assistants” and interact with personal devices that rely critically on speech and voice, basic research into the physical, social, and statistical aspects of speech plays a central role.