Taking a Walk on the Wild Side: Effects of Walking in Synchrony with Pitch-Altered Footstep Sounds on Body Perception in Outside the Lab Contexts

The ’Footsteps Illusion’ shows that pitch-altering footstep sounds in real-time affects body perception, gait, and emotion: high versus low frequencies evoke a lighter versus heavier body. We tested whether this illusion extends beyond the lab, where environmental factors matter. Using a mixed-methods approach, twenty-eight participants used a minimal setup to synchronize with three prerecorded pitch-altered footstep soundtracks: Control, High-Frequency, and Low-Frequency. In Experiment 1, they walked a fixed path, with gait recordings, questionnaires, and body visualizations. In Experiment 2, they walked freely across campus routes with High/Low-Frequency soundtracks, followed by post-walk interviews using a novel spatial mapping tool linking body sensations to context. Results replicate the illusion outdoors, showing synchronization with prerecorded sounds as a viable alternative to real-time feedback, and revealing that contextual factors modulate illusion effects. We contribute insights and novel tools (prototype, spatial mapping method, and footstep soundbase) for studying multisensory body perception in everyday contexts.