Speech perception is known to be a multimodal process, relying not only on auditory input, but also on the visual system and possibly on the motor system as well. To date there has been little work on the potential involvement of the somatosensory system in speech perception. In the current review, we identify the somatosensory system as another contributor to speech perception. First, we argue that evidence in favor of a motor contribution to speech perception can just as easily be interpreted as showing somatosensory involvement. Second, physiological and neuroanatomical evidence for auditory-somatosensory interactions across the auditory hierarchy indicates the availability of a neural infrastructure that supports somatosensory involvement in auditory processing in general. Third, there is accumulating evidence for somatosensory involvement in the context of speech specifically. In particular, tactile stimulation modifies speech perception, and speech auditory input elicits activity in somatosensory cortical areas. Moreover, speech sounds can be decoded from activity in somatosensory cortex; lesions to this region affect perception, and vowels can be identified based on somatic input alone. We suggest the somatosensory involvement in speech perception derives from the somatosensory-auditory pairing which occurs during speech production and learning. By bringing together findings from a set of studies that have not been previously linked, the current paper identifies the somatosensory system as a presently unrecognized contributor to speech perception.