Étienne Lombard (; 1869–1920) was a French otolaryngologist and

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

who discovered the Lombard effect, in which a person's

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...

is involuntarily raised when speaking in a loud environment.Lombard É. (1909). Letter to the Academy of Sciences, No. 7527, August 30 (cited by Lane and Tranel 1971 page 678). He was at the Lariboisiere Hospital, the first "oto-rhino-laryngologiste des Hopitaux" in France. He developed new surgical techniques and a new form of bone forceps. During World War I he researched the effects of air blasts upon 600 aviators but was unable to continue this research due to an illness that resulted in his early death. The "symptom of the raised voice" was discovered in 1909. It was made possible by the invention of a device by the Viennese physician

Robert Bárány Robert Bárány ( hu, Bárány Róbert, ; 22 April 1876 – 8 April 1936) was an Austrian-born otologist. He received the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus. Life ...

that delivered an intense

noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...

to only one ear and so allowed the

monaural Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...

examination of the other ear. Using this device Lombard asked a person to start talking in

conversation Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus ...

while hearing noise. He found that when the noise began, the person spoke louder, and when the noise stopped, the voice returned to a normal level.^{pp. 678–680} The finding was reported to the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

in August 1909, and the following year in April to the

French Academy of Medicine French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

.Lombard É. (1910). Sur un travail du Dr. Lombard, intitulé: Contribution á la Seméiologie de la Surditée, Un Nouveau Signe pour en Devoiler la Simulation, par M. Weiss, rapporteur. Bull. Acad. Nat. Med. (Par.), 64: 127-130, 1910. (trans, Sullivan RF. 1963. Report on Dr. Lombard's Original Research on the Voice Reflex Test for Malingering: Contribution á la Seméiologie de la Surditée, Un Nouveau Signe pour en Devoiler la Simulation. Acta Oto-Laryngologica, 56: 490-492. ) However, in 1910 German publications attributed this discovery to Robert Bárány, which led to a dispute in print between them. Priority was established when the English physician, Donald Schearer, described how he carried news of the discovery from Paris to Vienna in November 1909.^{pp. 677–678} Bárány received the

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

in 1914, for other work. Lombard's discovery is important for four reasons. * It provides a means of detecting malingering by simulated

hearing loss Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to Hearing, hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to Language ...

* It underlies research into speech communication in noise (an important practical problem) * It helps researchers understand how imitation and speaking are altered by

auditory feedback Auditory feedback (AF) is an aid used by humans to control speech production and singing by helping the individual verify whether the current production of speech or singing is in accordance with his acoustic-auditory intention. This process is po ...

* It identifies a role in speech of processes involving servomechanism. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lombard, Etienne French otolaryngologists 1920 deaths 1869 births Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery