Transmission of droplet-conveyed infectious agents such as SARS-CoV-2 by speech and vocal exercises during speech therapy: preliminary experiment concerning airflow velocity.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Infectious agents, such as SARS-CoV-2, can be carried by droplets expelled during breathing. The spatial dissemination of droplets varies according to their initial velocity. After a short literature review, our goal was to determine the velocity of the exhaled air during vocal exercises.

Methods

A propylene glycol cloud produced by 2 e-cigarettes' users allowed visualization of the exhaled air emitted during vocal exercises. Airflow velocities were measured during the first 200 ms of a long exhalation, a sustained vowel /a/ and varied vocal exercises. For the long exhalation and the sustained vowel /a/, the decrease of airflow velocity was measured until 3 s. Results were compared with a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study using boundary conditions consistent w

SUBMITTER: Giovanni A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7365602 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature