Role of the Lombard effect in lingual vibrotactile thresholds.

Lingual sensory, auditory, and vocal intensity interactions were investigated for 20 subjects. Lingual vibrotactile measurements were obtained from the lingual dorsum after normal reading, reading during exposure to auditory masking producing the "Lombard effect," and reading with matched Lombard loudness with no auditory masking. Results do not demonstrate a significant shift in threshold for lingual sensitivity in the presence of auditory masking that previous studies have shown. The observed results are discussed with reference to possible physiological properties and experimental and procedural variables.