Experiments have been carried out in which subjects were required to d
iscriminate time-varying visual and tactile stimuli presented simultan
eously via a 2D array of light-emitting diodes and a vibrator on the f
ingertip. Contrary to expectations, no problems in parallel visual and
tactile perception were apparent. Similar results were obtained in a
second experiment in which subjects were require to lipread from a vid
eo image and simultaneously identify speech-derived tactile stimuli. T
he generally poor performance of tactile aids to lipreading has been a
ttributed to problems of parallel perception, but such problems are cl
early not present in all circumstances.