Aerosol emission of adolescents voices during speaking, singing and shouting

• Published in: PloS one 2021-02, Vol.16 (2), p.e0246819
• Main Authors: Mürbe, Dirk, Kriegel, Martin, Lange, Julia, Schumann, Lukas, Hartmann, Anne, Fleischer, Mario
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Aerosols; Aerosols - analysis; Air flow; Airflow; Audiology; Choirs; Cleanrooms; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - transmission; Data analysis; Demographic aspects; Diameters; Disease Outbreaks; Distribution; Draft (gas flow); Editing; Emissions; Engineering and Technology; Environmental aspects; Environmental Monitoring - instrumentation; Female; Fog; Health aspects; Humans; Lighthouses; Male; Musicians & conductors; Oral communication; Particle counters; People and Places; Physical Sciences; Pipes; Puberty; Radiation counters; Respiratory system; Reviews; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Singers; Singing; Social Sciences; Speech; Suction; Teenagers; Test equipment; Testing; Values; Vertical flow; Viruses; Youth
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246819

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, singing activities for children and young people have been strictly regulated with far-reaching consequences for music education in schools and ensemble and choir singing in some places. This is also due to the fact, that there has been no reliable data available on aerosol emissions from adolescents speaking, singing, and shouting. By utilizing a laser particle counter in cleanroom conditions we show, that adolescents emit fewer aerosol particles during singing than what has been known so far for adults. In our data, the emission rates ranged from 16 P/s to 267 P/s for speaking, 141 P/s to 1240 P/s for singing, and 683 P/s to 4332 P/s for shouting. The data advocate an adaptation of existing risk management strategies and rules of conduct for groups of singing adolescents, like gatherings in an educational context, e.g. singing lessons or choir rehearsals.