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Echo Shoes

Spring loaded strikers in the heel make an echoing footsteps effect.
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Each shoe has a spring loaded metal ball in the heel that strikes the ground and makes a sound when the person walks.

Being spring loaded however, it doesn't just hit the ground once, it bounces and hits the ground two or three more times, each strike with less force than the previous as the movement imparted to the ball from the step dissipates giving an echoing footstep effect.

Add to the echo effect a reverb effect by that same spring extending into a resonating chamber in the sole of the shoe and every room you walk into will sound like a haunted house, an abandoned tunnel or or a cave.

Cool to wear on Halloween.

Of course an easier way to do it is to just have electronic sound sample players on each foot. Advantage of that is you could have it play other sounds like timpani drums for when you're wearing a dinosaur or fat guy costume.

doctorremulac3, May 14 2018

DrBob ain't lyin' https://www.youtube...watch?v=X3bAreqPe3Y
Somebody's done a version of the sound generating footwear idea. [doctorremulac3, May 16 2018]

The "Stayin' Alive" version. https://www.youtube...watch?v=XfwQ_7xqO7Y
Anybody who says they didn't strut down the street like this in their youth when they got a new outfit is lying. [doctorremulac3, May 17 2018]

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       I know it's not in fashion,
and a trifle uncool,
but I can't help it,
I'm a tympanic fool.
It's a habit of mine,
to walk as sun goes down,
On Echo shoes, I walk as sun goes down.
  

       From nine till five I have to limp around and lurk,
my stride is so forlorning, I'm a soda jerk.
The only thing that helps to keep the blues at bay
is knowing I will walk my Echo shoes Sunday.
  

       On the silent summer pavement
the ground's alive with sound,
rounding in the distance
a surrealistic pound.
My Echo shoes
create sounds which abound.
With Echo shoes
there's not a sole unwound.
  

       Wow 2 Fries!   

       It's creative moments like that that have kept me coming to this site for all these years.
doctorremulac3, May 15 2018
  

       [doc], I can't help feeling that we could achieve a greater level of uncanniness. Or perhaps a lesser level of canniness.   

       What's needed is (a) soft-soled, noiseless shoes and (b) an in- shoe sound system that can generate the sound of a footfall exactly 150ms before your foot strikes the ground.
MaxwellBuchanan, May 15 2018
  

       "Gravel driveway" crunch when walking across carpet ?
8th of 7, May 15 2018
  

       That would be excellent. I already regret having the driveway Axminstered.
MaxwellBuchanan, May 15 2018
  

       Clearly as suggested, multiple, selectable sound effects are needed.   

       I think shoe mounted sound generators with 20 or so different effects would sell. Not sure if it would make a lot of money but people would buy these. I would.   

       Make it motion sensitive so harder steps make one sound, softer make different sounds. So walk into the room with booming floor crunching sounds then tip toe which will trigger the squeeky floor sound.
doctorremulac3, May 15 2018
  

       We're getting ahead of ourselves here. We need to walk before we can fly.   

       Why not start with shoes that make the sound of a footstep as the wearer's foot hits the ground?   

       Once we've achieved that, we can start getting creative.
Wrongfellow, May 15 2018
  

       // the sound of a footstep as the wearer's foot hits the ground? //   

       Could it make the sound of one hand, clapping ?
8th of 7, May 15 2018
  

       Clip clop horse walking noises too? [+]
AusCan531, May 15 2018
  

       ...that changes to a gallop sound when you run.
doctorremulac3, May 15 2018
  

       <Python>   

       "You're using coconuts !"   

       </Python>
8th of 7, May 16 2018
  

       //Gravel driveway//   

       Or the possible contender of walking through piles of Lego.
wjt, May 16 2018
  

       I own a pair of giant monster feet slippers. The right foot makes a crashing giant footstep sound when it moves. The left foot is silent so the gap between crashes is unnaturally long, making it sound like you are taking much larger (i.e. giant) footsteps.
DrBob, May 16 2018
  

       Yup, looked it up and posted a link.   

       However, I think one of your monster feet might just be not working. Both of this guy's feet make a crashing sound.   

       I think these could be improved by sensing when the person stops walking and letting out a Godzilla roar.
doctorremulac3, May 16 2018
  

       // walking through piles of Lego //   

       We will pay top dollar for boots that play the sound of crushing the tiny, fragile dreams of orphans and [xenzag].
8th of 7, May 16 2018
  

       Two questions for [8th]   

       What do you mean ‘Top dollar’?   

       Do the sounds actually have to be just ‘simulated’?
AusCan531, May 16 2018
  

       // one of your monster feet might just be not working//

Nah, they work fine. There is a speaker in one but not the other. They are about 15 years old or more, I think. My nieces bought them for me as a Christmas present one year. They know what their uncle likes & it ain't Chantilly Lace!
DrBob, May 17 2018
  

       // Chantilly Lace //   

       Is there any possibly of a written reassurance that "Chantilly Lace" isn't a euphemism for some revolting and perverted sexual activity ?
8th of 7, May 17 2018
  

       A set of gaudy dress shoes playing "Stayin Alive" could be kind of cool. (See link)
doctorremulac3, May 17 2018
  

       //We will pay top dollar for boots that play the sound of crushing the tiny, fragile dreams of orphans and [xenzag].//I take it you've finished crocheting the last batch of toilet seat covers I sent you. Customers are waiting! You're idle! Get back to work or you'll be counting sand granules with your tongue again for another month.
xenzag, May 17 2018
  

       // you've finished crocheting the last batch of toilet seat covers //   

       Some ... still got plenty of goat-hair twine, but awaiting the next delivery of itching powder and cactus spines.
8th of 7, May 17 2018
  

       //Is there any possibly of a written reassurance that "Chantilly Lace" isn't a euphemism for some revolting and perverted sexual activity ?//

I have no idea 8th, but if it is, I am too innocent to understand it. I was going to add a link to The Big Bopper on youtube but, upon review, I didn't think it would do a lot to help my case.
DrBob, May 17 2018
  


 

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