Auditory-tactile speech perception in congenitally blind and sighted adults

▶ Manual tactile information relevant to recovering speech gestures modulated speech perception in case of degraded acoustic information. ▶ Manual tactile contact with the speaker's face paired with incongruent auditory input decreased auditory speech intelligibility and, conversely, congruent audio-tactile inputs enhanced auditory speech intelligibility when compared to the audio-only condition. ▶ Audio-tactile interactions occur similarly in blind and sighted untrained listeners despite possible differences in sensory skills.