Imperial College London
Alternate

Emeritus ProfessorGavinDonaldson

Faculty of Medicine, National Heart & Lung Institute

Emeritus Professor of Respiratory Studies
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 7859gavin.donaldson

 
 
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Location

 

B141Guy Scadding BuildingRoyal Brompton Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Gregson:2021:10.1080/02786826.2021.1883544,
author = {Gregson, FKA and Watson, NA and Orton, CM and Haddrell, AE and McCarthy, LP and Finnie, TJR and Gent, N and Donaldson, GC and Shah, PL and Calder, JD and Bzdek, BR and Costello, D and Reid, JP},
doi = {10.1080/02786826.2021.1883544},
journal = {Aerosol Science and Technology},
pages = {681--691},
title = {Comparing aerosol concentrations and particle size distributions generated by singing, speaking and breathing},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2021.1883544},
volume = {55},
year = {2021}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented shutdown in social and economic activity, with the cultural sector particularly severely affected. Restrictions on musical performances have arisen from a perception that there is a significantly higher risk of aerosol production from singing than speaking, based upon high-profile examples of clusters of COVID-19 following choral rehearsals. However, comparing aerosol generation from different types of vocalization, including singing, across a range of volumes is a rapidly evolving area of research. Here, we measured aerosols from singing, speaking and breathing from a large cohort of 25 professional singers in a range of musical genres in a zero-background environment, allowing unequivocal attribution of aerosol production to specific vocalizations. We do not assess the relative volumes at which people speak and sing. However, both showed steep increases in mass concentration with increase in loudness (spanning a factor of 20–30 across the dynamic range measured, p < 0.001). At the quietest volume (50 to 60 dBA), neither singing (p = 0.19) nor speaking (p = 0.20) were significantly different to breathing. At the loudest volume (90 to 100 dBA), a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) was observed between singing and speaking, but with singing only generating a factor of between 1.5 and 3.4 more aerosol mass. Guidelines for musical performances should be based on the loudness and duration of the vocalization, the number of participants and the environment in which the activity occurs, rather than the type of vocalization. Mitigations such as the use of amplification and increased attention to ventilation should be employed where practicable.
AU  - Gregson,FKA
AU  - Watson,NA
AU  - Orton,CM
AU  - Haddrell,AE
AU  - McCarthy,LP
AU  - Finnie,TJR
AU  - Gent,N
AU  - Donaldson,GC
AU  - Shah,PL
AU  - Calder,JD
AU  - Bzdek,BR
AU  - Costello,D
AU  - Reid,JP
DO  - 10.1080/02786826.2021.1883544
EP  - 691
PY  - 2021///
SN  - 0278-6826
SP  - 681
TI  - Comparing aerosol concentrations and particle size distributions generated by singing, speaking and breathing
T2  - Aerosol Science and Technology
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2021.1883544
UR  - http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000622208200001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
UR  - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02786826.2021.1883544
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/87506
VL  - 55
ER  -
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