Aerosol emission and superemission during human speech increase with voice loudness

Abstract Mechanistic hypotheses about airborne infectious disease transmission have traditionally emphasized the role of coughing and sneezing, which are dramatic expiratory events that yield both easily visible droplets and large quantities of particles too small to see by eye. Nonetheless, it has long been known that normal speech also yields large quantities of particles that are too small to see by eye, but are large enough to carry a variety of communicable respiratory pathogens. Here we show that the rate of particle emission during normal human speech is positively correlated with the loudness (amplitude) of vocalization, ranging from approximately 1 to 50 particles per second (0.06 to 3 particles per…

• DO
  Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

  Award: R01 AI110703
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: ES023513, P30-ES023513, R01 AI110703
• UO
  University of California, Davis
• NI
  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

  Award: R01 AI110703
• NI
  National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

  Awards: P30-ES023513, ES023513