"The Handbook is divided into broad subdisciplines of phonetics, broadly reflecting the speech chain. The first two sections cover articulatory phonetics, focusing on segmental and prosodic production respectively. The next section is broadly focused on acoustic phonetics and the measurement of speech. The fourth covers audition and perception, whilst the final section considers the application of phonetics to a number of other areas which are disciplines in their own right, such as developmental language, and clinical linguistics. The structure is not intended to suggest that the basic distinctions inherent in the volume's organization, such as between segments and prosody, or between production and perception are uncontested or without complication. Instead, the aim is to enable readers to both understand the structure of the discipline, and focus their reading in a particular area, in order to more fully engage with these wider theoretical discussions. We return to points concerning the nature and structure of the discipline towards the end of the introduction"--