Here we present data corresponding to a study in which we designed and tested a shoe-based prototype that senses a person's footsteps and alters in real-time the frequency spectra of the sound they produce while walking. The resulting sounds are consistent with those produced by either a lighter or heavier body. We measured perceived body weight, gait patterns and bodily feelings when people were exposed to modified versions of their walking sounds while walking. Our user study showed that modified walking sounds change one's own perceived body weight and lead to a related gait pattern. In particular, augmenting the high frequencies of the sound leads to the perception of having a thinner body and enhances the motivation for physical activity inducing a more dynamic swing and a shorter heel strike.The data in this collection are part of The Hearing Body project, a project investigating how the manipulation of action sounds may alter the mental representation of one's body and the related emotional state and body behaviour. Other data collections part of The Hearing Body project have been deposited (Please see Related resources section below). All 4 parts are experimental data, but they are data from different studies. Part 1 and 2 contain subjective reports and behavioural data, and Part 3 and 4 contain subjective reports, behavioural data and data on electrodermal activity changes. These results were published in the following paper: Tajadura-Jiménez, A., Basia, M., Deroy, O., Fairhust, M., Marquardt, N., Berthouze, N. (2015) As Light as your Footsteps: Altering Walking Sounds to Change Perceived Body Weight, Emotional State and Gait. ACM. CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Seoul, April, 2015. The mental representation we have of our body is essential for successful interaction with the environment. This representation is not fixed, but is continuously updated in response to the available sensory information. While previous studies have highlighted the role of vision, touch and proprioception in constructing the body-representation in the brain, the role of auditory information remains largely unknown. Interestingly, the sounds that accompany almost every bodily movement are highly rich in information about the body and the space immediately surrounding it. For instance, the sounds produced when tapping on a surface inform us about the length and strength of our arm. This project will investigate how auditory information generated by our bodies updates our body-representation. A series of psychological experiments will explore how altering self-produced sounds in real-time changes different body-representations, including the representation of the space surrounding the body, the potential actions that we can perform and the emotional states linked to our body capabilities. This multidisciplinary and innovative research project will provide novel insights into the nature of body-representations and, ultimately, guide the design of audio-based applications that can improve body-image, self-esteem, movement patterns and social interactions to support wellbeing and rehabilitation for people with movement impairments.
The user experience was evaluated by combining self-reporting (questionnaires), physiological (electrodermal activity) and objective behavioural measures. Behavioral measures included measures of perceived body weight collected by using a body visualisation tool and measures of changes in gait patterns collected by using force sensitive resistors placed under the heels and toes of participants, and an accelerometer placed on participants left ankle.
