Visualizing Speech-Generated Oral Fluid Droplets with Laser Light Scattering
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Open Access
- 21 May 2020
- journal article
- letter
- Published by Massachusetts Medical Society in The New England Journal of Medicine
- Vol. 382 (21), 2061-2063
- https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmc2007800
Abstract
Aerosols and droplets generated during speech have been implicated in the person-to-person transmission of viruses,1,2 and there is current interest in understanding the mechanisms responsible for the spread of Covid-19 by these means. The act of speaking generates oral fluid droplets that vary widely in size,1 and these droplets can harbor infectious virus particles. Whereas large droplets fall quickly to the ground, small droplets can dehydrate and linger as “droplet nuclei” in the air, where they behave like an aerosol and thereby expand the spatial extent of emitted infectious particles.2 We report the results of a laser light-scattering experiment in which speech-generated droplets and their trajectories were visualized.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK075023)
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