Influence of Footstep Sounds Induced by Varying Shoe Types and Gait Frequencies on Initial Impressions

With the rapid development of multimedia industries such as film, television, and gaming, the role of sound in shaping environmental atmosphere and character imagery has garnered increasing attention. Particularly, footsteps have been the focus of interest due to their unique role in identity recognition and emotional expression. Although existing research has concentrated on simulating realistic footstep sounds and analysed their acoustic characteristics, there is a relative scarcity of studies on how footstep sounds influence initial impressions on others. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the impact of different footstep sounds on personality impressions. We designed a total of eight footstep sounds based on four types of footwear (heels, work boots, sneakers, and leather shoes) and two walking frequencies (0.75 seconds and 1 second between steps), and invited 60 subjects with normal hearing to evaluate these footstep sounds across 15 impression dimensions. The results indicate that heels footsteps convey a sense of charm but lack stability; work boot footsteps give a lower sense of charm and a stronger impression of dominance; sneakers produce a similar effect to work boots but with a weaker impact; and leather shoes convey a certain level of charm. This study not only provides new perspectives and data for the field of psychoacoustics but also has guiding significance for character imagery and environmental design in film production, game design, and virtual reality.