Tadoma is a method of communication used by deafblind people, in which the deafblind person places their thumb on the speaker's lips and their fingers along the jawline, touching the speaker's lips and throat. It is sometimes known as 'tactile lipreading', as the deafblind person feels the movement of the lips, as well as vibrations of the vocal cords, puffing of the cheeks and the warm air produced by nasal sounds such as 'N' and 'M'.

The Tadoma method was invented by American teacher Sophie Alcorn and developed at the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts. It is named after the first two children to whom it was taught: Winthrop "Tad" Chapman and Oma Simpson. It was hoped that the students would learn to speak by trying to reproduce what they felt on the speaker's face and throat while touching their own face. It is a difficult method and is rarely used nowadays.

A small number of deafblind people use Tadoma in everyday communication.

See also

• Tactile signing

deaf culture | Linguistics | Disability

Tadoma | Tadoma