Report on blind subjects' tactile and auditory recognition for environmental stimuli

In two related experiments on recognition-on touch and audition-accuracy rates were obtained from congenitally blind subjects and compared with those for normally sighted subjects. In Exp. 1, 5 blind subjects inspected, i.e., handled, 150 common objects and were tested after a delay of 7 days. In Exp. 2, 9 blind subjects listened to 194 naturalistic sounds and were also tested after a 7-day delay. Accuracy of tactile recognition for the blind was 89.4% while it was 87.9% for the normally sighted. Sound recognition by blind subjects was 76.6% and for the normally sighted it was 78.4%. Neither difference was statistically significant.