Initial assessments will be presented describing the performance characteristics, effectiveness of speech feature transmission, and user acceptance of a wearable, 16‐channel electrotactile aid. Normal‐hearing and deaf subjects, wearing the device, received a battery of subtests evaluating the discriminability of male‐female voices, number of syllables, syllable stress,F1 movement,F2 movement, voicing, manner, and place of articulation. Factors affecting the design of experiments to test the efficacy of the device will be discussed, along with strategies for developing a comprehensive training curriculum for auditory awareness, speech reception in conjunction with lipreading, and speech production. [Work supported by Technology for the Handicapped, Inc., Tacticon Corporation, and SBIR/NIH.]