Keynote Announcement: Patrick C M Wong – Phonetics 2026 Hong Kong!

His research programme is strongly interdisciplinary, addressing individual variation in language and cognition across the lifespan. This work has significant implications for education, clinical intervention, and the development of personalised approaches to language learning.

Keynote Lecture

Forecasting Spoken Language Development

Language neuroscience can make important contributions to the broader agenda of precision medicine by capitalizing on what we know about the neurobiology of language learning to improve the precision of detection and intervention of language-related neurodevelopmental conditions. In this presentation, I report findings from a series of studies in which we use neural data (MRI or EEG) collected as early as infancy to construct predictive models to forecast language developmental outcomes at the individual child level. These studies include data from preterm and term-born infants, cochlear implant candidates, and children with a confirmed diagnosis or are at elevated likelihood of autism. Our results show that predictive models using neural data to forecast language developmental outcomes often outperform those that use standard clinical and demographic measures as predictors (e.g., gestational age, birth weight, socioeconomic status, Ages & Stages Questionnaires). In some cases, we have sufficient data to validate the models using unseen data or to evaluate the models’ generalization to cross-site and cross-language data. Besides their potential clinical applications, our neural predictive models also provide opportunities to address more basic questions about the neurobiology of language. For example, we ask whether cortical and subcortical development interacts with native and non-native speech processing in infancy, and whether this interaction forms the basis of spoken language development. In children who are hearing impaired, we examine whether brain regions that are resilient to reduced auditory/spoken language input are those that promote spoken language when hearing is facilitated by cochlear implantation. In both typical and atypical populations, we are in the process of testing whether individual-child predictions can inform the design and prescription of different types of early intervention and enhancement strategies so that language development can be optimized for all children.

View Patrick C. M. Wongs’ full speaker profile: Patrick C. M. Wong – Keynote Speaker

Call for Papers: Phonetics 2026 Hong Kong

The International Linguistic Society invites submissions for Phonetics 2026 Hong Kong, taking place 3–5 June 2026. The conference aims to advance research in phonetics and explore the growing applications of AI in language education. Also with a Special session on Chinese phonetics.

We welcome contributions across a wide range of topics, including:

• Phonetic research: theoretical, experimental, and applied
• Core areas: speech physiology, acoustics, and perception
• Interdisciplinary work: psycho-, neuro-, socio-, and computational phonetics
• Applications: phonetic education, disorders, technology, and AI-powered tools for language learning

The conference will feature keynotes by leading scholars, oral and poster presentations, and hybrid participation options for in-person and online attendees. Accepted abstracts will be published as expanded 4-page papers in the Linguistic Proceedings.

Venue:
Lecture Hall N203, West Kowloon Campus, Hong Kong Polytechnic University/Hybrid participation available.

How to Submit:
Visit the conference page for submission instructions and updates:
Phonetics 2026 Hong Kong – International Conference on Phonetics and AI in Language Education

Contact:
For inquiries, please contact the Organising Committee at contact@linguistic-society.com.

Join us in Hong Kong to share your research, connect with global experts, and advance the
future of phonetics and AI in language education!