The effect of subject awareness and prior slip experience on tribometer-based predictions of slip probability

Prior knowledge of potentially slippery conditions has been shown to alter normal human gait in slip and fall experiments. We sought to quantify how the empirical relationship between slip probability and available floor friction was affected by subject awareness and prior slip experience. Sixty-eight subjects (40 females, 28 males) walked over three different low-friction surfaces inserted periodically between non-slip control trials. Three increasing levels of prior knowledge were used: deceived (unaware of the slippery surface), aware (20% chance of a slippery surface, but no prior slip experience) and experienced (aware with prior slip experience). Available friction was measured using a drag sled and a variable incidence tribometer. Of 620 low-friction trials, 124 generated slips greater than 27mm. The proportion of slips, the slip distance and the required friction (taken from the control trial immediately before a low-friction trial) generally decreased with increasing levels of prior knowledge. These adaptations were accommodated by logistically regressing slip outcome (yes/no) against the normalized friction (available friction minus required friction) rather than against available friction alone. The regressions showed that subject awareness biased the slip probability curve toward a lower slip risk for a given normalized friction, but that the subsequent addition of slip experience generated a slip risk curve that was not significantly different from that of deceived (and presumably unprepared) subjects. These findings suggest that data to validate a tribometer's ability to predict the risk of slipping (but not falling) can be acquired from subjects with prior slip experience.