Crossmodal correspondences are systematic associations between features in different sensory modalities and are widely observed in the general population. One example is the tendency to link tactile properties, such as texture, with visual attributes such as colour or brightness. There is evidence for touch-colour associations and touch-lightness associations from various studies of sighted individuals, a case study of someone with touch-colour synaesthesia, and a case study of someone without colour perception. However, it remains unclear whether such associations can also emerge in individuals without functional vision. The present study aimed to investigate whether visually impaired individuals exhibit similar associations between touch and colour and touch and lightness as sighted controls. Using a forced-choice task, participants matched colours and perceived brightness to specific tactile stimuli. Responses from sighted controls (n = 4), late blind participants (n = 10), and early blind participants (n = 5) were compared. 

Results revealed that the group did not significantly predict the chosen colour or perceived brightness across stimuli, which suggested that all three groups gave similar responses of colours and brightness across groups. No statistically significant associations were found for specific touch-colour or touch-lightness pairings within groups. These findings suggest cross-modal mapping of touch-colour and touch-lightness may form similarly in the absence of vision. However, robust and specific correspondences did not reliably emerge. The findings tentatively support that touch-colour and touch-lightness correspondences exist in visually impaired individuals, while highlighting the need for further research with larger samples to clarify the underlying mechanisms.