Professor Catherine Best

Professor Catherine Best

Chair in Psycholinguistic Research,
MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour & Development

Chair in Psycholinguistic Research,
MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour & Development

Biography

Qualifications

  • PhD Michigan State University (USA)
  • MA Michigan State University (USA)
  • MA Wesleyan University Middleton Conneticut

Organisational Unit (School / Division)

  • MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour & Development
  • MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour & Development

Contact

Email: C.Best@westernsydney.edu.au
Phone: (02) 9772 6760
Mobile: 0432248682
Location: U.5.36
Westmead

PLEASE NOTE: obtaining information from this Directory must be for the legitimate purposes of doing business with and within Western Sydney University, and must not be used for unsolicited bulk e-mailing (spamming) or similar purposes.

Publications

Books

  • Best, C., Bradlow, A., Guion, S. and Polka, L. (2011), 'Speech perception and varieties of linguistic experience. Special issue of Journal of Phonetics', : .
  • Goldstein, L., Whalen, D. and Best, C. (2006), 'Laboratory Phonology 8: Varieties of Phonological Competence', : Mouton De Gruyter 9783110176780.

Chapters in Books

  • Chen, J., Best, C. and Antoniou, M. (2021), 'Predicting potential difficulties in second language lexical tone learning with support vector machine models', Learning Technologies and Systems: 19th International Conference on Web-Based Learning, ICWL 2020 and 5th International Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Education, SETE 2020 Ningbo, China, October 22-24, 2020, Proceedings, Springer Nature 9783030669058.
  • Best, C. (2020), 'Perception of non-native click consonant contrasts : implications for theories of speech perception', Click Consonants, Brill 9789004232686.
  • Best, C., Avesani, C., Tyler, M. and Vayra, M. (2019), 'PAM revisits the articulatory organ hypothesis : Italians' perception of English anterior and Nuu-Chah-Nulth posterior voiceless fricatives', A Sound Approach to Language Matters: In Honor of Ocke-Schwen Bohn, Aarhus University 9788775074402.
  • Best, C. (2018), 'Speech perception in infants : propagating the effects of language experience', Handbook of Psycholinguistics, Wiley-Blackwell 9781118829509.
  • Avesani, C., Galata, V., Best, C., Vayra, M., Di Biase, B. and Ardolino, F. (2017), 'Phonetic details of coronal consonants in the Italian spoken by Italian-Australians from two areas of Veneto', Fattori Sociali e Biologici nella Variazione Fonetica = Social and Biological Factors in Speech Variation, Associazione Italiana Scienze della Voce 9788897657194.
  • Agostini, T. and Best, C. (2015), 'Exploring processability theory-based hypotheses in the second language acquisition of a child with autism spectrum disorder', Grammatical Development in Second Languages: Exploring the Boundaries of Processability Theory, European Second Language Association 9781329427655.
  • Best, C. (2015), 'Devil or angel in the details? : perceiving phonetic variation as information about phonological structure', Phonetics-Phonology Interface: Representations and Methodologies, John Benjamins Publishing 9789027248541.
  • Avesani, C., Galata, V., Vayra, M., Best, C., Di Biase, B., Tordini, O. and Tisato, G. (2015), 'Italian roots in Australian soil : coronal obstruents in native dialect speech of Italian-Australians from two areas of Veneto', Il Farsi e il Disfarsi del Linguaggio: Acquisizione, Mutamento e Destrutturazione della Struttura Sonora del Linguaggio, ASIV: Associazione Italiana Scienze della Voce 9788897657118.
  • Mulak, K. and Best, C. (2013), 'Development of word recognition across speakers and accents', Theoretical and Computational Models of Word Learning: Trends in Psychology and Artificial Intelligence, Information Science Reference 9781466629738.
  • Best, C. and Kitamura, C. (2012), 'Accent on language development : using dialects to trace how children come to recognise spoken words', Psychology, John Wiley & Sons Australia 9781742166445.
  • Faber, A., Di Paolo, M. and Best, C. (2010), 'The peripatetic history of Middle English */E/', Reader in Sociophonetics, Mouton de Gruyter 1934078050.
  • Avesani, C., Vayra, M., Best, C. and Bohn, O. (2008), 'Fonologia e acquisizione linguistica (How does native language experience come to shape speech perception?)', Processi Fonetici e Categorie Fonologiche Nell'Acquisizione Dell'Italiano (Phonological acquisiton and phonological theories), Pacini Editore 9788863150568.
  • Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2007), 'Nonnative and second-language speech perception', Language Experience in Second Language Speech Learning: In honor of James Emil Flege, John Benjamins 9027219737.
  • Goldstein, L., Whalen, D. and Best, C. (2006), 'Introduction', Laboratory Phonology 8, Mouton de Gruyter 9783110176780.

Journal Articles

  • Galata, V., Avesani, C., Best, C., Di Biase, B. and Vayra, M. (2022), 'The Italian Roots in Australian Soil (IRIAS) multilingual speech corpus : speech variation in two generations of Italo-Australians', Language Resources and Evaluation, vol 56, no 1 , pp 37 - 78.
  • Jones, C., Kalashnikova, M., Khamchuang, C., Best, C., Bowcock, E., Dwyer, A., Hammond, H., Hendy, C., Jones, K., Kaplun, C., Kemp, L., Lam-Cassettari, C., Li, W., Mattock, K., Odemis, S. and Short, K. (2022), 'A short-form version of the Australian English communicative development inventory', International Journal of Speech Language Pathology, vol 24, no 4 , pp 341 - 351.
  • Murray, G., Carignan, C., Whittle, T., Gal, J. and Best, C. (2022), 'Pterygoid muscle activity in speech : a preliminary investigation', Journal of Oral Rehabilitation, vol 49, no 12 , pp 1135 - 1143.
  • Elvin, J., Williams, D., Shaw, J., Best, C. and Escudero, P. (2021), 'The role of acoustic similarity and non-native categorisation in predicting non-native discrimination : Brazilian Portuguese vowels by English vs. Spanish listeners', Languages, vol 6, no 1 .
  • Li, Y., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Burnham, D. (2021), 'Perceptual assimilation of regionally accented Mandarin lexical tones by native Beijing Mandarin listeners', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol 150, no 4 , pp 312 - 312.
  • Ying, J., Shaw, J., Carignan, C., Proctor, M., Derrick, D. and Best, C. (2021), 'Evidence for active control of tongue lateralization in Australian English /l/', Journal of Phonetics, vol 86 .
  • Mandal, S., Best, C., Shaw, J. and Cutler, A. (2020), 'Bilingual phonology in dichotic perception : a case study of Malayalam and English voicing', Glossa, vol 5, no 1 , pp 1 - 17.
  • Chen, J., Best, C. and Antoniou, M. (2020), 'Tone differentiation as a means for assessing non-native imitation of Thai tones by Mandarin speakers', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol 148, no 4 .
  • Chen, J., Best, C. and Antoniou, M. (2020), 'Native phonological and phonetic influences in perceptual assimilation of monosyllabic Thai lexical tones by Mandarin and Vietnamese listeners', Journal of Phonetics, vol 83 .
  • Li, Y., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Burnham, D. (2020), 'Regionally accented Mandarin lexical tones', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol 148, no 4 , pp 2474 - 2474.
  • Best, C. (2019), 'The diversity of tone languages and the roles of pitch variation in non-tone languages : considerations for tone perception research', Frontiers in Psychology, vol 10 .
  • Baker, J., Raman, S., Kohlhoff, J., George, A., Kaplun, C., Dadich, A., Best, C., Arora, A., Zwi, K., Schmied, V. and Eapen, V. (2019), 'Optimising refugee children's health/wellbeing in preparation for primary and secondary school : a qualitative inquiry', BMC Public Health, vol 19, no 1 .
  • Larraza, S. and Best, C. (2018), 'Differences in phonetic-to-lexical perceptual mapping of L1 and L2 regional accents', Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, vol 21, no 4 , pp 805 - 825.
  • Singh, L., Fu, C., Seet, X., Tong, A., Wang, J. and Best, C. (2018), 'Developmental change in tone perception in Mandarin monolingual, English monolingual, and Mandarin-English bilingual infants : divergences between monolingual and bilingual learners', Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, vol 173 , pp 59 - 77.
  • Faris, M., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2018), 'Discrimination of uncategorised non-native vowel contrasts is modulated by perceived overlap with native phonological categories', Journal of Phonetics, vol 70 , pp 1 - 19.
  • Shaw, J., Best, C., Docherty, G., Evans, B., Foulkes, P., Hay, J. and Mulak, K. (2018), 'Resilience of English vowel perception across regional accent variation', Laboratory Phonology, vol 9, no 1 , pp 1 - 36.
  • Derrick, D., Carignan, C., Chen, W., Shujau, M. and Best, C. (2018), 'Three-dimensional printable ultrasound transducer stabilization system', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol 144, no 5 , pp 392 - 398.
  • Fenwick, S., Best, C., Davis, C. and Tyler, M. (2017), 'The influence of auditory-visual speech and clear speech on cross-language perceptual assimilation', Speech Communication, vol 92 , pp 114 - 124.
  • Faris, M., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2016), 'An examination of the different ways that non-native phones may be perceptually assimilated as uncategorized', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol 139, no 1 , pp 1 - 5.
  • Halle, P., Ridouane, R. and Best, C. (2016), 'Differential difficulties in perception of Tashlhiyt Berber consonant quantity contrasts by native Tashlhiyt listeners versus Berber-naive French listeners', Frontiers in Psychology, vol 7 .
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Kroos, C., Baker, B., Best, C. and Harvey, M. (2016), 'Consonantal timing and release burst acoustics distinguish multiple coronal stop place distinctions in Wubuy (Australia)', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol 140, no 4 , pp 2794 - 2809.
  • Best, C., Goldstein, L., Nam, H. and Tyler, M. (2016), 'Articulating what infants attune to in native speech', Ecological Psychology, vol 28, no 4 , pp 216 - 261.
  • Nguyen Thi Hong Nhung, N., Shaw, J., Pinkus, R. and Best, C. (2016), 'Intergroup dynamics in speech perception : interaction among experience, attitudes and expectations', University of Pennsylvania. Working Papers in Linguistics, vol 22, no 2 .
  • Reid, A., Burnham, D., Kasisopa, B., Reilly, R., Attina, V., Xu Rattanasone, N. and Best, C. (2015), 'Perceptual assimilation of lexical tone : the roles of language experience and visual information', Attention, Perception and Psychophysics, vol 77, no 2 , pp 571 - 591.
  • Chen, W., Chang, Y., Best, C. and Derrick, D. (2015), 'Super-imposing maxillary and palatal locations for electroarticulometry : a SIMPLE method', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol 138, no 2 , pp 161 - 166.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Baker, B., Kroos, C., Harvey, M. and Best, C. (2015), 'Discrimination of multiple coronal stop contrasts in Wubuy (Australia) : a natural referent consonant account', PLoS One, vol 10, no 12 .
  • Tyler, M., Best, C., Goldstein, L. and Antoniou, M. (2014), 'Investigating the role of articulatory organs and perceptual assimilation of native and non-native fricative place contrasts', Developmental Psychobiology, vol 56 , pp 210 - 227.
  • Tyler, M., Best, C., Faber, A. and Levitt, A. (2014), 'Perceptual assimilation and discrimination of non-native vowel contrasts', Phonetica, vol 71, no 1 , pp 4 - 21.
  • Vatikiotis-Bateson, E., Barbosa, A. and Best, C. (2014), 'Articulatory coordination of two vocal tracts', Journal of Phonetics, vol 44, no 1 , pp 167 - 181.
  • So, C. and Best, C. (2014), 'Phonetic influences on English and French listeners' assimilation of Mandarin tones to native prosodic categories', Studies in Second Language Acquisition, vol 36, no 2 , pp 195 - 221.
  • Watson, T., Robbins, R. and Best, C. (2014), 'Infant perceptual development for faces and spoken words : an integrated approach', Developmental Psychobiology, vol 56, no 7 , pp 1454 - 1481.
  • Escudero, P., Best, C., Kitamura, C. and Mulak, K. (2014), 'Magnitude of phonetic distinction predicts success at early word learning in native and non-native accents', Frontiers in Psychology, vol 5 .
  • Antoniou, M., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2013), 'Focusing the lens of language experience : perception of Ma'di stops by Greek and English bilinguals and monolinguals', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol 133, no 4 , pp 2397 - 2411.
  • Kitamura, C., Panneton, R. and Best, C. (2013), 'The development of language constancy : attention to native versus nonnative accents', Child Development, vol 84, no 5 , pp 1686 - 1700.
  • Stevens, C., Tardieu, J., Dunbar-Hall, P., Best, C. and Tillmann, B. (2013), 'Expectations in culturally unfamiliar music : influences of proximal and distal cues and timbral characteristics', Frontiers in Psychology, vol 4 , pp 1 - 13.
  • Mulak, K., Best, C., Tyler, M., Kitamura, C. and Irwin, J. (2013), 'Development of phonological constancy : 19-month-olds, but not 15-month-olds, identify words in a non-native regional accent', Child Development, vol 84, no 6 , pp 2064 - 2078.
  • Krebs-Lazendic, L. and Best, C. (2013), 'First language suprasegmentally-conditioned syllable length distinctions influence perception and production of second language vowel contrasts', Laboratory Phonology, vol 4, no 2 , pp 435 - 474.
  • Bohn, O. and Best, C. (2012), 'Native-language phonetic and phonological influences on perception of American English approximants by Danish and German listeners', Journal of Phonetics, vol 40, no 1 , pp 109 - 128.
  • Antoniou, M., Tyler, M. and Best, C. (2012), 'Two ways to listen : do L2-dominant bilinguals perceive stop voicing according to language mode?', Journal of Phonetics, vol 40, no 4 , pp 582 - 594.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Baker, B., Kroos, C., Harvey, M. and Best, C. (2012), 'Vowel acoustics reliably differentiate three coronal stops of Wubuy across prosodic contexts', Laboratory Phonology, vol 3, no 1 , pp 133 - 161.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C., Kroos, C. and Tyler, M. (2012), 'Second language learners' vocabulary expansion is associated with improved second language vowel intelligibility', Applied Psycholinguistics, vol 33, no 3 , pp 643 - 664.
  • Vayra, M., Avesani, C., Best, C. and Bohn, O. (2012), 'Non solo dettagli fonetici, non solo categorie fonologiche : l'interazione tra fonetica e fonologia nella percezione di suoni non-nativi', Studi e Saggi Linguistici, vol 2012, no 2 , pp 119 - 146.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2011), 'Vocabulary size matters: The assimilation of second-language Australian English vowels to first-language Japanese vowel categories', Applied Psycholinguistics, vol 32, no 1 , pp 51 - 67.
  • So, C. and Best, C. (2011), 'Categorizing Mandarin tones into listeners' native prosodic categories : the role of phonetic properties', Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics, vol 47, no 1 , pp 133 - 145.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2011), 'Vocabulary size is associated with second-language vowel perception performance in adult learners', Studies in Second Language Acquisition, vol 33, no 3 , pp 433 - 461.
  • Best, C., Bradlow, A., Guion-Anderson, S. and Polka, L. (2011), 'Using the lens of phonetic experience to resolve phonological forms', Journal of Phonetics, vol 39, no 4 , pp 453 - 455.
  • Antoniou, M., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Kroos, C. (2011), 'Inter-language interference in VOT production by L2-dominant bilinguals : asymmetries in phonetic code-switching', Journal of Phonetics, vol 39, no 4 , pp 558 - 570.
  • Best, C. and Halle, P. (2010), 'Perception of initial obstruent voicing is influenced by gestural organisation', Journal of Phonetics, vol 38, no 2010 , pp 109 - 126.
  • Best, C., Mathur, G., Miranda, K. and Lillo-Martin, D. (2010), 'Effects of sign language experience on categorical perception of dynamic ASL pseudosigns', Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, vol 72, no 3 , pp 747 - 762.
  • So, C. and Best, C. (2010), 'Cross-language perception of non-native tonal contrasts : effects of non-native phonological and phonetic influences', Language and Speech, vol 53, no 2 , pp 273 - 293.
  • Antoniou, M., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Kroos, C. (2010), 'Language context elicits native-like stop voicing in early bilinguals' productions in both L1 and L2', Journal of Phonetics, vol 38, no 4 , pp 640 - 653.
  • Best, C., Tyler, M., Gooding, T., Orlando, C. and Quann, C. (2009), 'Development of phonological constancy : toddlers' perception of native- and Jamaican-accented words', Psychological Science, vol 20, no 5 , pp 539 - 542.
  • Halle, P. and Best, C. (2007), 'Dental-to-velar peceptual assimilation: A cross-linguistic study of the perception of dental stop +/l/ clusters', Journal of Acoustical Society of America, vol 121, no 5 , pp 2899 - 2914.
  • Brancazio, L., Best, C. and Fowler, C. (2006), 'Visual Influences on Perception of Speech and Nonspeech Vocal-Tract Events', Language and Speech, vol 49, no 1 , pp 21 - 53.
  • Halle, P., Chang, Y. and Best, C. (2004), 'Identification and discrimination of Mandarin Chinese tones by Chinese versus French listeners', Journal of Phonetics, vol 32, no 3 , pp 395 - 421.
  • Best, C. (2003), 'Peeling back the layers of time: Integrating developmental, experiential, and stimulus time in speech perception', Journal of Phonetics, vol 31, no 3-4 , pp 613 - 618.
  • Best, C. and Mcroberts, G. (2003), 'Infant perception of nonnative consonant contrasts that adults assimilate in different ways', Language and Speech, vol 46 , pp 183 - 216.
  • Best, C. (2002), 'Revealing the mother tongue's nurturing effects on the infant ear', Infant Behavior and Development, vol 25 , pp 134 - 139.
  • Singh, L., Morgan, J. and Best, C. (2002), 'Infants' listening preferences: Baby talk or happy talk', Infancy, vol 3 , pp 365 - 394.
  • Best, C., Mcroberts, G. and Goodell, E. (2001), 'American listeners' perception of nonnative consonant contrasts varying in perceptual assimilation to English phonology', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol 1097 , pp 775 - 794.

Conference Papers

  • Chen, J., Ni, T., Kasisopa, B., Antoniou, M. and Best, C. (2021), 'SVM-based evaluation of Thai tone imitations by Thai-naive Mandarin and Vietnamese speakers', Asia-Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association. Annual Summit and Conference, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Li, Y., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Burnham, D. (2020), 'Tone variations in regionally accented Mandarin', INTERSPEECH (Conference), Shanghai, China.
  • Li, Y., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Burnham, D. (2020), 'Regionally accented Mandarin lexical tones', Acoustical Society of America. Meeting, Online.
  • Li, Y., Best, C., Cao, C. and Zhang, J. (2019), 'Hybrid perceptual training to facilitate the learning of nasal final contrasts by highly proficient Japanese learners of Mandarin', International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Vic..
  • Chen, J., Best, C. and Antoniou, M. (2019), 'Cognitive factors in Thai-naive Mandarin speakers' imitation of Thai lexical tones', INTERSPEECH (Conference), Graz, Austria.
  • Nixon, J. and Best, C. (2018), 'Acoustic cue variability affects eye movement behaviour during non-native speech perception', International Conference on Speech Prosody, Poznan, Poland.
  • Chen, J., Best, C., Antoniou, M. and Kasisopa, B. (2018), 'Cross-language categorisation of monosyllabic Thai tones by Mandarin and Vietnamese speakers : L1 phonological and phonetic influences', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Coogee, N.S.W..
  • Kroos, C., Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C. and Plumbley, M. (2017), 'Using deep neural networks to estimate tongue movements from speech face motion', International Conference on Auditory-Visual Speech Processing, Stockholm, Sweden.
  • Ying, J., Carignan, C., Shaw, J., Proctor, M., Derrick, D. and Best, C. (2017), 'Temporal dynamics of lateral channel formation in /l/ : 3D EMA data from Australian English', INTERSPEECH (Conference), Stockholm, Sweden.
  • Frej, M., Carignan, C. and Best, C. (2017), 'Acoustics and articulation of medial versus final coronal stop gemination contrasts in Moroccan Arabic', INTERSPEECH (Conference), Stockholm, Sweden.
  • Fenwick, S., Best, C., Davis, C. and Tyler, M. (2016), 'The influence of modality and speaking style on the assimilation type and categorization consistency of non-native speech', INTERSPEECH (Conference) , San Francisco, Calif..
  • Faris, M., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2016), 'L2 phonological category formation and discrimination in learners varying in L2 experience', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Parramatta, N.S.W..
  • Wright, S., Lathouwers, M., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2016), 'Cross-accent word recognition is affected by perceptual assimilation', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Parramatta, N.S.W..
  • Peretokina, V., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Di Biase, B. (2016), '"She has many... cat?" : on-line processing of L2 morphophonology by Mandarin learners of English', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Parramatta, N.S.W..
  • Elvin, J., Escudero, P., Williams, D. and Best, C. (2016), 'The relationship between Australian English speakers' non-native perception and production of Brazilian Portuguese vowels', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science, Parramatta, N.S.W..
  • Best, C., Kitamura, C., Gates, S. and Carpenter, A. (2016), 'Does a vowel by any other accent sound the same ... to toddler ears?', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Parramatta, N.S.W..
  • Faris, M., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2015), 'The perceptual assimilation of Danish monophthongs and diphthongs by monolingual Australian English speakers', International Congress of Phonetic Sciences , Glasgow, U.K..
  • Peretokina, V., Best, C., Tyler, M., Shaw, J. and Di Biase, B. (2015), 'Perception of English codas in various phonological and morphological contexts by Mandarin learners of English', International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow, Scotland.
  • Nguyen Thi Hong Nhung, N., Shaw, J., Tyler, M., Pinkus, R. and Best, C. (2015), 'Affective attitudes towards Asians influence perception of Asian-accented vowels', International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow, U.K..
  • Fenwick, S., Davis, C., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2015), 'The effect of modality and speaking style on the discrimination of non-native phonological and phonetic contrasts in noise', Joint Conference on Facial Analysis, Animation and Auditory-Visual Speech Processing, Vienna, Austria.
  • Wu, M., Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Baker, B., Best, C. and Fletcher, J. (2015), 'Perception of Cantonese tones by Mandarin speakers', International Congress of Phonetic Sciences , Glasgow, Scotland.
  • Best, C., Shaw, J., Mulak, K., Docherty, G., Evans, B., Foulkes, P., Hay, J., Al-Tamimi, J., Mair, K. and Wood, S. (2015), 'Perceiving and adapting to regional accent differences among vowel subsystems', International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow, Scotland.
  • Fenwick, S., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2015), 'Non-native discrimination across speaking style, modality, and phonetic feature', International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow, Scotland.
  • Derrick, D., Best, C. and Fiasson, R. (2015), 'Non-metallic ultrasound probe holder for co-collection and co-registration with EMA', International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow, Scotland.
  • Best, C., Kroos, C., Mulak, K., Halovic, S., Fort, M. and Kitamura, C. (2015), 'Message vs. messenger effects on cross-modal matching for spoken phrases', Joint Conference on Facial Analysis, Animation and Auditory-Visual Speech Processing, Vienna, Austria.
  • Best, C., Shaw, J., Docherty, G., Evans, B., Foulkes, P., Hay, J., Al-Tamimi, J., Mair, K., Mulak, K. and Wood, S. (2015), 'From Newcastle MOUTH to Aussie ears : Australians' perceptual assimilation and adaptation for Newcastle UK vowels', Interspeech 2015, Dresden, Germany.
  • Peretokina, V., Tyler, M. and Best, C. (2014), 'Influence of phonological, morphological, and prosodic factors on phoneme detection by native and second-language adults', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Christchurch, N.Z..
  • Shaw, J., Best, C., Mulak, K., Docherty, G., Evans, B., Foulkes, P., Hay, J., Al-Tamimi, J., Mair, K., Peek, M. and Wood, S. (2014), 'Effects of short-term exposure to unfamiliar regional accents : Australians' categorization of London and Yorkshire English consonants', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Christchurch, N.Z..
  • Wright, S., Shaw, J., Best, C., Docherty, G., Evans, B., Foulkes, P., Hay, J. and Mulak, K. (2014), 'Improvements to vowel categorization in non-native regional accents resulting from multiple- versus single-talker training : a computational approach', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Christchurch, N.Z..
  • Ying, J., Shaw, J. and Best, C. (2013), 'L2 English learners' recogniton of words spoken in familar versus unfamiliar English accents', Conference of the International Speech Communication Association, Lyon, France.
  • Best, C., Shaw, J. and Clancy, E. (2013), 'Recognizing words across regional accents : the role of perceptual assimilation in lexical competition', Conference of the International Speech Communication Association, Lyon, France.
  • Gibert, G., Attina, V., Tiede, M., Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Kroos, C., Kasisopa, B., Vatrikiotis-Bateson, E. and Best, C. (2012), 'Multimodal speech animation from electromagnetic articulography data', EUSIPCO-2012, Bucharest, Romania.
  • Ying, J., Shaw, J., Kroos, C. and Best, C. (2012), 'Relations between acoustic and articulatory measurements of /l/', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Sydney, N.S.W..
  • Kroos, C., Bundgaard-Nielsen, R. and Best, C. (2012), 'Now you see it, now you don't : frequency distribution of articulatory information reflected in speech face motion', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Sydney, N.S.W..
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Baker, B., Harvey, M., Best, C. and Kroos, C. (2012), 'The perception of coronal stops in Wubuy', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Sydney, N.S.W..
  • Tiede, M., Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Kroos, C., Gibert, G., Attina, V., Kasisopa, B., Vatikiotis-Bateson, E. and Best, C. (2012), 'Speech articulator movements recorded from facing talkers using two electromagnetic articulometer systems simultaneously', Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Cancun, Mexico.
  • Bohn, O., Best, C., Avesani, C. and Vayra, M. (2011), 'Percieving through the Lens of Native Phonetics: Italian and Danish Listeners' Perception of English Consonant Contrasts', 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Hong Kong.
  • Best, C., Kroos, C. and Irwin, J. (2011), 'Do infants detect A->V articulator congruency for non-native click consonants?', International Conference on Audio-Visual Speech Processing, Volterra, Italy.
  • So, C. and Best, C. (2010), 'Categorizing Mandarin Tones to Listeners' Native Prosodic Categories: The Role of Phonetic Properties', 6th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech, New Sounds 2010, Poznan, Poland.
  • Bohn, O. and Best, C. (2010), 'Testing PAM and SLM: Perception of American English approximants by Native German Listeners', 6th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech, New Sounds 2010, Poznan, Poland.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Baker, B., Harvey, M., Best, C. and Kroos, C. (2010), 'Prosodic context effects on acoustic differentiation of coronal stops in Wubuy', 12th Conference on Laboratory Phonology (LabPhon 12) - Gesture as Language - Gesture and Language, New Mexico.
  • Best, C., Kroos, C. and Irwin, J. (2010), 'I can see what you said: Infant sensitivity to articulator congruency between audio-only and silent-video presentations of native and nonnative consonants', 9th International Conference on Auditory-Visual Speech Processing, Japan.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Kroos, C., Harvey, M., Best, C., Baker, B. and Goldstein, L. (2010), 'A kinematic analysis of temporal differentiation of the four-way coronal stop contrast in Wubuy (Australia)', 13th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology Conference 2010, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Kroos, C., Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Goldstein, L. and Best, C. (2010), 'Tongue body position differences in the coronal stop consonants of Wubuy', 13th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology 2010, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Proctor, M., Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C., Goldstein, L., Kroos, C. and Harvey, M. (2010), 'Articulatory Modelling of Coronal Stop Contrasts in Wubuy', 13th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology 2010, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Wagner, M., Tran, D., Togneri, R., Rose, P., Powers, D., Onslow, M., Loakes, D., Lewis, T., Kuratate, T., Kinoshita, Y., Kemp, N., Ishihara, S., Ingram, J., Hajek, J., Grayden, D., Gocke, R., Fletcher, J., Estival, D., Epps, J., Dale, R., Cutler, A., Cox, F., Chetty, G., Cassidy, S., Butcher, A., Burnham, D., Bird, S., Best, C., Bennamoun, M., Arciuli, J. and Ambikairajah, E. (2010), 'The Big Australian Speech Corpus (The Big ASC)', 13th International Australasian Conference on Speech Science and Technology 2010, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Burnham, D., Ambikairajah, E., Arciuli, J., Bennamoun, M., Best, C., Bird, S., Butcher, A., Cassidy, S., Chetty, G., Cox, F., Cutler, A., Dale, R., Epps, J., Fletcher, J., Goecke, R., Grayden, D., Hajek, J., Ingram, J., Ishihara, S., Kemp, N., Kinoshita, Y., Kuratate, T., Lewis, T., Loakes, D., Onslow, M., Powers, D., Rose, P., Togneri, R., Tran, D. and Wagner, M. (2009), 'A Blueprint for a Comprehensive Australian English Auditory-Visual Speech Corpus', HCSNet Workshop on Designing the Australian National Corpus: Mustering Languages, Sydney.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Kroos, C. (2008), 'Evidence of a Near-Merger in Western Sydney Australian English Vowels', Interspeech 2008, Brisbane Australia.
  • Tyler, M., Best, C., Goldstein, L., Antoniou, M. and Krebs-Lazendic, L. (2008), 'Six and twelve-month-olds' discrimination of native versus non-native between- and within-organ fracative plast contrasts', Interspeech 2008, Brisbane Australia.
  • So, C. and Best, C. (2008), 'Do English Speakers Assimilate Mandarin Tones to English Prosodic Categories', Interspeech 2008, Brisbane, Australia.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2008), 'The Assimilation of L2 Australian English Vowels to L1 Japanese Vowel Categories: Vocabulary Size Matters', Interspeech 2008, Brisbane, Australia.
  • Antoniou, M., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2008), 'Perceptual evidence of Modern Greek voiced stops as phonological categories', Interspeech 2008, Brisbane Australia.
  • Antoniou, M., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Kroos, C. (2008), 'Effects of linguistic context on Greek-English bilingual production of voice onset time', Laboratory Phonology 11, Victoria University: Wellington, New Zealand.
  • Goldstein, L., Nam, H., Kulshreshtha, M., Root, L. and Best, C. (2008), 'Distribution of tongue tip articulations in Hindi versus English and the acquisition of stop place categories', Laboratory Phonology 11, Victoria University: Wellington, New Zealand.
  • Chang, Y., Halle, P., Best, C. and Abramson, A. (2008), 'Do non-native language listeners perceive Mandarin tone continua categorically?', 8th Phonetics Conference of China and the International Symposium on Phonetic Frontiers, Beijing, China.
  • Best, C., Halle, P. and Pardo, J. (2007), 'English and French Speakers' Perception of Voicing Distinctions in Non-Native Lateral Consonant Syllable Onsets', Interspeech 2007, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Le, J., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Kroos, C. (2007), 'Effects of Non-native Dialects on Spoken Word Recognition', Interspeech 2007, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Krebs-Lazendic, L. and Best, C. (2007), 'Early and late bilinguals' vowel perception and production : English vowel contrasts that give Serbian-English bilinguals a H(E)AD-ache', New Sounds 2007: Fifth International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil.
  • Best, C. and Lazarek, D. (2005), 'Influences of visible place versus manner distinctions on perception of audio-visual English CV syllables', Auditory-Visual Speech Processing 2005, .
  • Best, C., Traill, A., Carter, A., Harrison, K. and Faber, A. (2003), '!Xoo click perception by English, Isizulu, and Sesotho listeners', International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Barcelona.

Exhibitions

  • 2014, 'Uluzuzulalia : a performance and playground of the voice for children and their adults'

Current Projects

Title: Origins of Phonology and Lexicon: Abstract representations before 6 months
Funder:
  • Australian Research Council (ACRG)
Western Researchers: Denis Burnham and Catherine Best
Years: 2020-05-31 - 2024-12-31
ID: P00025567

Previous Projects

Title: Children's generalisation and adaptation to unfamiliar regional accents reveal the path of early word learning
Funder:
  • Australian Research Council (ACRG)
Western Researchers: Catherine Best and Christine Kitamura
Years: 2013-04-01 - 2017-12-22
ID: P00020819
Title: Early ontogeny of attunement to the language of environment
Funder:
  • National Institutes of Health
Western Researchers: Catherine Best
Years: 2005-02-10 - 2008-03-31
ID: P0014699
Title: How Strict is the Mother tongue? Using Dialects to Probe Early Speech Perception and Word Recognition
Funder:
  • Australian Research Council (ACRG)
Western Researchers: Catherine Best and Christine Kitamura
Years: 2007-01-01 - 2011-12-31
ID: P0015136
Title: AHAA! (Analysis of Human Articulate Activities): A Communicative Dynamics Research Facility
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Catherine Best, Kate Stevens, Michael Tyler, Christian Kroos, Christopher Davis and Denis Burnham
Years: 2006-09-01 - 2007-08-31
ID: P0015240
Title: Research Event - Workshop on the phonetics and phonology of Australian Indigenous languages
Funder:
  • Australasian Speech Science & Technology Association
Western Researchers: Robert Mailhammer, Jason Shaw and Catherine Best
Years: 2013-06-13 - 2013-06-14
ID: P00021030
Title: Tracing Regional Italian Roots in the Speech of Italian-Australians
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
  • Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies, University of Bologna
  • Federation of Italian Migrant Workers and their Families
  • Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council , Italy
Western Researchers: Catherine Best
Years: 2014-09-29 - 2016-09-28
ID: P00022208
Title: Dynamic Auditory-Visual Humans
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Christopher Davis, Denis Burnham, Catherine Best, Roger Dean, Kate Stevens, Jeesun Kim, Takaaki Kuratate, Christian Kroos, Michael Tyler and Connie So
Years: 2007-08-06 - 2008-12-31
ID: P0015758
Title: A Pitch in Time: Investigation of Expectancies and Implicit Learning in Music Cognition
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Kate Stevens, Denis Burnham and Catherine Best
Years: 2006-05-26 - 2012-12-01
ID: P0015162
Title: Expectations on the Line: Implicit vs. Explicit Knowledge of Melodic and Rhythmic Patterning
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Kate Stevens and Catherine Best
Years: 2006-12-20 - 2008-01-03
ID: P0015399
Title: How do infants segment their first words from continuous speech?
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Michael Tyler and Catherine Best
Years: 2005-12-21 - 2007-06-20
ID: P0015006
Title: Deciphering the great and mysterious singing machine [via ANU CoE]
Funder:
  • Australian Research Council (ACRG)
Western Researchers: Christopher Carignan and Catherine Best
Years: 2016-05-01 - 2017-12-31
ID: P00023477
Title: What in the world did she say? Cross-dialect pronunciation differences and their impact on English word recognition
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Catherine Best and Christian Kroos
Years: 2008-06-17 - 2010-01-16
ID: P00016145
Title: You came TO DIE?! Perceptual adaptation to regional accents as a new lens on the puzzle of spoken word recognition
Funder:
  • Australian Research Council (ACRG)
Western Researchers: Catherine Best and Jason Shaw
Years: 2012-01-01 - 2017-12-22
ID: P00020109
Title: Audio-visual speech: Integrative ecological approach to measurement, modelling, synthesis and perception
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Catherine Best
Years: 2006-01-25 - 2007-09-24
ID: P0014916
Title: Italian roots in Australian soil: Tracing regional linguistic heritage in first and second generation bilinguals
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Catherine Best
Years: 2011-11-09 - 2013-05-31
ID: P00020489
Title: "Italian-Australian Language Roots" website development
Funder:
  • Federation of Italian Migrant Workers and their Families
Western Researchers: Catherine Best
Years: 2014-05-07 - 2016-05-06
ID: P00022242

Supervision

Professor Best is available to be a principal supervisor for doctoral projects

Current Supervision

Thesis Title: Second Language Acquisition in Autism
Field of Research:

Western Sydney University

Locked Bag 1797
Penrith NSW 2751

Tel: +61 2 9852 5222

ABN 53 014 069 881
CRICOS Provider No: 00917k