Avatar weight estimates based on footstep sounds in three presentation formats

When evaluating a sound design for virtual environment, the context where it is to be implemented in may have an influence on how it may be perceived. In this paper we perform an experiment comparing three presentation formats (audio only, video with audio and an interactive immersive VR format) and their influences on a sound design evaluation task concerning footstep sounds. The evaluation involved estimating the perceived weight of a virtual avatar seen from a first person perspective, as well as the suitability of the sound effect relative to the context. The results show significant differences for three cases between the presentation formats, both for weight estimates and suitability ratings over all variations of the footstep sound design. The remaining 15 comparisons each for both weight estimates and suitability ratings were not significant. However there were noticeably more significant differences between the sound designs variations that were evaluated in the audio only condition than in the two other presentation formats.