In this paper, we show that there is a distinctive mode of spatial awareness in blind individuals, which we call sense of volume, that is not to be confused with echolocation based on self-generated sounds. It is based on the analysis of variations in the ambient sound field and it provides locational information about objects in one's surroundings. We propose that the sense of volume offers a primitive contact with the outside world. It does not give access to perceptual objects as such, but it should rather be understood as a rudimentary sense of presence that expresses that there is something out there at a certain distance and in a certain direction. We conclude by highlighting its tactile quality. More specifically, we argue that the sense of volume consists in a form of tactile anticipation: when one experiences something as being out there, one tactually expects that one could come in contact with it. Pillot, A. and de Vignemont F. (in press). Feeling presence in the dark. Journal of consciousness studies 2 Poor young fellow! How on earth did he know that van was there? Must have felt it. See things in their forehead perhaps: kind of sense of volume. Weight or size of it, something blacker than the dark. Wonder would he feel it if something was removed. Feel a gap. (Joyce, 1922, p. 173, our underline) In the rich opus of Ulysses, James Joyce tries at one point to capture the spatial phenomenology of a blind man walking in Dublin. The man has a long cane that gives him information about the surface that he is in contact with, but his sense of space is not exhausted by the tactile sensations that he experiences at the tip of his cane. In addition, he has what Joyce calls a 'sense of volume', which involves no intermediary tool. He knows that there is something in front of him without being in contact with it. How? Joyce offers no definite reply. The blind man may possibly 'feel' it or 'see it in his forehead'. This form of spatial awareness is not the mere product of the writer's imagination. It has been described as early as Diderot (1749) in his Letter on the blind for the use of those who see. For instance, Diderot reports the case of the blind mathematician, Saunderson, who could recognise places he had once visited "by the sound the walls and pavement reflected" (p. 116). This was the result of a unique ability to detect material objects, such as walls and buildings, to localize them, and even to discriminate what they are made of. This may sound like a cheap trick or some kind of extrasensory ability but this special form of awareness of the outside world is well known to professionals working with visually impaired individuals, though largely neglected in the experimental literature. The objective of this paper is to offer the first philosophical attempt to analyze its nature, determining what information it carries and what sensory modality it involves. Our paper will remain largely exploratory, based on subjective reports from visually impaired subjects -including from the first author.