The effects of ecological auditory feedback on rhythmic walking interaction

The authors present a system capable of rhythmic walking interactions using auditory display. The feedback is based on footstep sounds and follows either detected footsteps or suggests a tempo, which is either constant or adapts to the walker. The auditory display contains simple sinusoidal tones or ecological, physically based synthetic walking sounds. In the tempo-following experiment, the authors investigate the different interaction modes (step versus constant or adaptive tempo) and auditory feedback (sinusoidal tones versus ecological walking sounds) with respect to their effect on walking tempo. They calculate the mean square error (MSE) between the performed and target tempo and the stability of the performed tempo. The results indicate that the MSE with ecological sounds is better than or comparable to that with the sinusoidal tones, yet ecological sounds are considered more natural. Allowing deviations from the cues in the adaptive conditions results in a tempo that's still stable but closer to the natural walking pace of the subjects. These results have implications on the design of interactive entertainment or rehabilitation.