Experiments have been carried out to investigate the information transfer available via a single vibrator on the fingertip. In a first experiment, for stimuli with durations 80 to 320 ms, discrimination of a one-octave step change in frequency at the halfway point was investigated. Results were similar for three stimulus types—sinewave, monophasic pulse and tetraphasic pulse—suggesting temporal cues are more important than spectral cues in this task. In a second experiment, subjects were required to perceive changes in a sequence of stimulus elements. A presentation rate of 6.25 elements s−1was found to give better results than a rate of 12.5 elements s−1. In the former case, the potential information transfer per element was estimated to be approximately 1.0 bits, corresponding to an information transfer rate of around 6 bits s−1. Implications for the design of a tactile aid to lipreading are discussed.