A Flow and Aerosol Guide to the Orchestra

In the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic, live musical activities have come to a standstill to protect both musicians and the public. Among musical groups, orchestral ensembles both personnel heavy and instrumentally diversified face the challenge of contamination. In particular, assessing whether wind instruments are possible vectors of contamination through the dispersion of aerosol from human origin is a chief concern in mitigating the effect of the spread of the disease.

This study, made possible by the participation of members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, brings insight on the modes of production and early life of aerosol droplets emitted during the use of wind instruments. We show that aerosol size distribution shares similar characteristics as normal speech and vocalization, and is sensitive to the material of the instrument. Furthermore flow characterization shows that although small, the flow rate at instrument orifices is sufficient for the aerosol to be spread in the immediate environment of the musician and be picked up by the ambient for longer distance of travel.