TY - JOUR
T1 - Risk assessment and mitigation of airborne disease transmission in orchestral wind instrument performance
AU - Abraham, Aliza
AU - He, Ruichen
AU - Shao, Siyao
AU - Kumar, S. Santosh
AU - Wang, Changchang
AU - Guo, Buyu
AU - Trifonov, Maximilian
AU - Placucci, Rafael Grazzini
AU - Willis, Mele
AU - Hong, Jiarong
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - In collaboration with 16 musicians from the Minnesota Orchestra, we assess the airflow and particle concentration emitted from ten wind instruments under realistic performance conditions. Anemometer and schlieren measurement techniques are used to quantify the air flow, and aerodynamic particle sizer, laser sheet, and digital inline holography techniques are used to measure the particle concentration. The regions where the flow speed and particle concentrations are above the measurable background level vary among instruments depending on both air flow generation and particle production, but extend no farther than 30 cm from the instrument outlet for all instruments. Farther away, the upward-moving thermal plume generated by the temperature difference between the human body and ambient air is the dominant source of flow and aerosol transport. Brass instrument air flow increases with music amplitude and particle concentration exhibits an inverse response to note duration. Woodwinds emit more particles when note pitch increases. Covering the trumpet bell with one layer of acoustic fabric reduces the emitted particle concentration by ~60% with little impact on the sound quality. Adding more mask layers blocks more particles, but impedes performance and lowers the sound quality at higher frequencies (>1000 Hz). Computational fluid dynamics simulations initialized with experimental data show that placing an air cleaner above the instrument outlet can reduce the particle concentration by 90% due to the thermal plume driving aerosols upwards. Filtration efficiency further increases considerably (~10%) when lowering the ambient temperature from 25 °C to 20 °C to enhance the temperature difference with the human body.
AB - In collaboration with 16 musicians from the Minnesota Orchestra, we assess the airflow and particle concentration emitted from ten wind instruments under realistic performance conditions. Anemometer and schlieren measurement techniques are used to quantify the air flow, and aerodynamic particle sizer, laser sheet, and digital inline holography techniques are used to measure the particle concentration. The regions where the flow speed and particle concentrations are above the measurable background level vary among instruments depending on both air flow generation and particle production, but extend no farther than 30 cm from the instrument outlet for all instruments. Farther away, the upward-moving thermal plume generated by the temperature difference between the human body and ambient air is the dominant source of flow and aerosol transport. Brass instrument air flow increases with music amplitude and particle concentration exhibits an inverse response to note duration. Woodwinds emit more particles when note pitch increases. Covering the trumpet bell with one layer of acoustic fabric reduces the emitted particle concentration by ~60% with little impact on the sound quality. Adding more mask layers blocks more particles, but impedes performance and lowers the sound quality at higher frequencies (>1000 Hz). Computational fluid dynamics simulations initialized with experimental data show that placing an air cleaner above the instrument outlet can reduce the particle concentration by 90% due to the thermal plume driving aerosols upwards. Filtration efficiency further increases considerably (~10%) when lowering the ambient temperature from 25 °C to 20 °C to enhance the temperature difference with the human body.
KW - Aerosol concentration
KW - Airborne disease transmission
KW - Human thermal plume
KW - Influence zone
KW - Musical instrument
KW - Risk mitigation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85104587618&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85104587618&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jaerosci.2021.105797
DO - 10.1016/j.jaerosci.2021.105797
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85104587618
SN - 0021-8502
VL - 157
JO - Journal of Aerosol Science
JF - Journal of Aerosol Science
M1 - 105797
ER -