The role of the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOT) in reading is well established in both sighted and blind readers. Its role in speech processing remains only partially understood. Here, we test the involvement of the left vOT in phonological processing of spoken language in the blind and in the sighted by means of whole-brain and region-of-interest (including individually identified) fMRI analyses. Secondly, we examine the relationship between the left vOT activation during speech processing and reading skills. We confirm greater involvement of the left vOT in the blind than in the sighted subjects during both phonological and control spoken language tasks. The left vOT presented similar activation to other language-network nodes and was related to the reading level only in the blind group. Our results indicate a changed development of the left vOT sensitivity to spoken language, resulting from the visual deprivation.
