Collaborations: Prof. Cesare Maria Joppolo and Ing. Francesco Romano of Airlab (Energetic Department of Politecnico di Milano), Dr. Orietta Calcinoni (Voice & Music Professionals Care Team – VMPCT C/o Medico Turati, Milan, Italy), and the Artists of Fondazione Teatro alla Scala di Milano
Fundings: Fondazione Teatro alla Scala di Milano
The viral transmission via inhalation of small airborne respiratory droplets or ‘aerosols’ has been widely discussed in the context of the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this potential risk from infection via droplets and aerosols, many activities that occurred prior to the pandemic will have to be modified to reduce the risk of infection, especially those that have the potential to generate virus-containing particles. These activities include singing and playing musical instruments. An interdisciplinary project is proposed to evaluate droplets and aerosol simultaneously with air volume and voice parameters generated during singing in a white box. The device used to monitor vocal and respiratory activity has been described here. The device used to monitor particles emission is the white box of the AirLab, with controlled temperature, humidity and air contaminants. The facilities include a complete set of environmental monitoring instruments, a thermostatic cleanroom chamber and test rigs for materials and equipment characterization. The measurement setup is reported in Figure below.
The study was approved by the Ethical Review Board of the Politecnico di Milano and the device was successfully used to monitor professional artists (singers and musicians) during the execution of a series of vocal tasks.
