Influence of Floor Type on Social Navigation with Small Free-Standing Groups in Virtual Reality

Sahba Zojaji, Jonathan Schiött, William Ivegren, Andrii Matviienko, Christopher Peters

Abstract: Human footsteps play a significant role in everyday life, allowing individuals to discern the emotions, gender, and intentions of others solely from the sound of their footsteps. However, the influence of footstep sounds made when walking on different floor types in virtual reality (VR) environments when joining conversational groups remains unclear. In this paper, we present a controlled study (N=50) to assess the impact of five different floor types, associated with specific footstep sounds and visuals, on the persuasiveness of Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) when inviting participants to join a free-standing conversational group. We analyze routes taken by participants and the positions at which they join the group, which may be compliant or not with the agent’s request when approaching the group while walking on different virtual floor types. Our findings reveal that the type of floor being walked upon, defined by footstep sounds and visual appearance, significantly impacts the persuasiveness of ECAs and the trajectories taken by participants to join the group. Participants took longer paths and joined the group in the presence of more pleasant footstep sounds. Further, they tended to adhere to social norms by avoiding walking through the group’s center.