A statistical study of air bubbles on athletic shoesoles

Abstract

Comparisons of a shoemark with a shoesole (and standards) sometimes lead to associations based on air bubbles (among other manufacturing or acquired characteristics). Today, the assessment of the evidential value of air bubbles coincidences relies largely upon the examiner’s experience and/or follows sometimes a verification based on the examination of a small number of analogous pairs collected for the case at hand. Statistical data related to the occurrence and characteristics of air bubbles on shoesoles in an attempt to model the potential variability have been gathered. Seventy-one pairs of shoes with the same design, brand, model and size were obtained. Right and left soles were photographed. An image-processing algorithm was developed to allow the systematic acquisition of data such as: (1) the number of air bubbles on the sole and around given structural elements; (2) the measure of air bubbles characteristics such as their surface and position. These data allow a discussion of the assessment of the probability of finding on shoesoles (same design, brand, model and size) a certain number of air bubbles on a surface with the same positions and morphology.