Ironically, living in a small house with hardwood flooring applied to car-decking (t&g 2x8 subfloor, atop 4x8 girders 4'oc -- loud AF), my kids naturally began to avoid striking their heel after a year or two. The sound transmission through flooring here is unusually bad though. But we never allowed shoes indoors anyway.

What an odd statement.

Have you ever lived in a place where children routinely travel on the ground, barefoot? This would be a useful scenario to bring to the table here.

Kids trapped in an attic... not so much.

I've never seen any children anywhere, that didn't create the impression that 400 pound, hooved animals are thundering by.

I admit that I haven't been to the Highlands though, where True Scotsmen's children can be observed.