Updated: Fri 10: 13 AM, Apr 17, 2020
(Gray News) – An experiment published in the New England Journal of Medicine gives us an idea of the difference between the number of aerosols and droplets released when talking with and without a mask.
A laser-light experiment shows the difference between talking with and without a mask. (Source: New England Journal of Medicine/CNN)
The experiment comes as scientists are continuing to research risk factors of spreading the new coronavirus, and it may give people more of a reason to wear a mask while in public.
Scientists conducted a laser-light experiment showing how speech-generated droplets can travel when talking. The droplets can fall quickly to the ground or linger in the air like an aerosol, spreading potentially infectious particles.
In the experiment, a person said the words “stay healthy” several times through an open end of a cardboard box. The box had slits so laser light could illuminate from the inside. The droplets generated during the talking produced flashes as they traversed the box. The most flashes occurred when the “th” sound in the word “healthy” was made.
The same phrase was said three times with a slightly damp washcloth over the face, and there was a decrease in the number of forward-moving droplets as a result.
Scientists also found that the loudness of speech increased the number of flashes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising the public to wear cloth face coverings in public settings where social distancing measures may be hard to maintain.
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