Recent years have seen an explosion in research into whether the loss of a sensory channel can be compensated for in any way, for example, by providing information from the missing sense through another one, otherwise known as sensory substitution. Our research group has in recent years worked on sensory substitution devices for people with hearing impairments using vibrotactile feedback. A major guiding principle in this work has been that a thorough understanding of the perceptual channels involved is necessary for successful sensory substitution. We review research from the last decade on vibrotactile stimulation where the aim has been to uncover the capacity of the underlying perceptual channels. If the goal is vibrotactile sensory substitution for vision, this is limited by large differences in the capacity of information transmission where the capacity is orders of magnitude higher for vision than touch. Nevertheless, assistive aids that involve compensation for sensory loss with haptic feedback are possible, and feasible, as long as the differences in resolution are considered.