So what’s the simplest way to silence sounds like footsteps for the development time-being cause they get annoying?
Turn the sound down on your computer 
Seriously though, most games have WAY TOO LOUD footsteps. If they’re annoying you during devel, they’ll annoy the player during the game. It’s a good idea to make them MUCH softer.
A lot of devs get obsessed with footsteps and camera bob. But in real life you are very rarely aware of foot noises, and never aware that your head is going up and down. So the way to make it more real is NOT do these things.