Sound masking degrades perception of self-location during stepping: A case for sound-transparent spacesuits for Mars

Most efforts to improve spacesuits have been directed towards adding haptic feedback. However, sound transparency can also improve situational awareness at a relatively low cost. The extent of the improvement is unknown. We use the Fukuda-Unterberger stepping test to measure the accuracy of one's perception of self-location. We compare accuracy outcomes in two scenarios: one where hearing is impaired with sound masking with white noise and one where it is not. These scenarios are acoustic proxies for a sound muffling space suit and a sound transparent space suit respectively. The results show that when sound masking is applied, the error in self-location increases by 14.5cm, 95% CI [4.04 28.22]. Suggestions to apply the findings to Mars spacesuit designs are discussed. A cost-benefit analysis is also provided.