The expulsion of droplets -responsible in particular for contamination by SARS-CoV-2- would be greater when a human sings and this, all the more so if it is an adult man. Explanations.
- Singing produces 77% more respiratory aerosols than speaking.
- Adult men produce more than women and minors.
On average, there are 8,813 new positive cases of Covid-19 per day in France, according to the latest figures from the government, a growth of 51.37% in 7 days. A month ago, this number rose daily to 4,000 new cases. And the incidence rate is also increasing: 93.63 number of cases per week per 100,000 inhabitants, an increase of 50.79% in 7 days. There is therefore a resumption of the epidemic in France.
Social distancing, especially with singers…
To protect yourself from the virus, you must therefore continue to apply barrier gestures: wear a mask, avoid physical contact, cough or sneeze into your elbow, use a single-use handkerchief and throw it away and, of course, social distancing. .. To which one must be all the more vigilant in the presence of a man who sings, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
…because of respiratory aerosols
Indeed, when an adult man sings, he tends to produce more respiratory aerosols according to the researchers. Respiratory aerosols are a mixture of airborne particles and macro or micro droplets expelled by a human when they speak, sing, cough or sneeze. These droplets can contain virus, which makes closed places, for example, can be a very important source of contamination. It is for this reason that the wearing of a mask is still often imposed there.
100 participants aged 12 to 61
To achieve these results, the researchers worked with students at an art school to determine the quantity and the dangerousness of the droplets emitted by the students. The 100 volunteers aged 12 to 61 were placed in a specialized room to measure the respiratory particles emitted while they sang, spoke or played an instrument.
Men produce 34% more aerosols than women
In detail, singing would produce 77% more aerosols than speaking. Another discovery of the researchers: the louder we speak or sing, the more important and therefore dangerous the emissions. In addition, a person’s age and gender also affect respiratory emissions: adults produced 62% more aerosols than miners and men produced 34% more than women. The authors thus believe that it would be necessary to measure the levels of carbon dioxide in an enclosed space and those of noise to assess the risk of transmission of Covid-19 but also of other seasonal diseases such as the flu or the common cold.
So far, the article published by the authors only includes the results of the singing and speaking experiments of the study. Those on the number of respiratory aerosols produced by people who play an instrument are included in the study but are not yet known. They will certainly be the subject of a future publication.
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