Martin Barry studied Modern and Medieval Languages and Computer Speech and Language Processing at Cambridge University, and was a lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, before coming to Manchester in 1989. His research and teaching interests are in Experimental Phonetics. He is also active in the field of Forensic Phonetics, taking the view that some of the claims advanced for the discipline are of yet unproven scientific validity. His interest lies chiefly in giving a second opinion in cases where voice recognition evidence is claimed to be of significance. He is a former editor of Journal of the International Phonetic Association, and was a member of the Council of the International Phonetic Association from 1995 to 2003.

Martin Barry is also active as a composer and conductor of liturgical music. His music is published by Decani Music and by the Society of St. Gregory, and he has been Choirmaster and Director of Music at St. John's Cathedral, Salford, since 1995.

Research Interests

• Phonetic and phonological modelling of connected speech, with particular reference to cross-linguistic variation (English and Russian)
• Phonetic cues to phonological structure, especially syllable structure
• The speaker-recognition process
• Forensic applicability of acoustic measurements of the voice

Selected Publications

• [Rachel L.C. Mitchell, Rebecca Elliott, Martin Barry, Alan Cruttenden and Peter W.R. Woodruff] The neural response to emotional prosody, as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Neuropsychologia 1577 (2003), 1-12
• A phonetic and phonological investigation of English clear and dark syllabic /l/. Bulletin de la Communication Parlée, 5 (2000), 77-88.
• [Martin C. Barry & Ryad Teifour] Temporal patterns in Syrian Arabic voicing assimilation. Proceedings of the 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, San Francisco, August 1999. Volume 3, pp 2429-2432.
• Gestural Overlap and Gestural Weakening in Connected Speech. Proceedings of the XIIIth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Stockholm, August 1995. Volume 3, pp 468-471.
• Palatalisation, assimilation and gestural weakening in connected speech. Speech Communication, 11 (1992), 393-400.
• Assimilation and Palatalisation in Connected Speech. Proceedings of the ESCA Workshop on Phonetics and Phonology of Speaking Styles, Barcelona, September 1991, section 9, pp 1-5.
• Temporal Modelling of Gestures in Articulatory Assimilation. Proceedings of the XIIth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Aix-en-Provence, August 1991. Volume 4, pp 14-17.