Influence of medical gloves on fingerpad friction and feel

Friction experiments were carried out sliding a fingerpad, in both a bare state and with a latex glove donned, across a force plate to determine friction levels for different contact surface conditions (dry/wet; steel/glass). Donning a glove was found to increase the friction in dry conditions, but reduce it in wet conditions. A range of vibration frequencies were found to occur during sliding and the pronounced stick-slip behaviour for a bare finger sliding on wet glass was not found to occur when a latex glove was donned.

These frequencies, along with those measured in a previous study, were used to inform the design of a tactile vibration perception study utilising a vibrating platform to replicate the sensation of finger sliding. The use of gloves was found to reduce the amplitude threshold at which participants were able to perceive vibrations. This effect was more extreme for double glove use, compared to single glove use. Glove donning also reduced the ability of participants to perceive differences in the frequency of vibrations.

These findings have implications for surgeons' ability to carry out tactile explorations and the protocol described in this paper can be used for future studies on the effect of glove use on feel.