Risk Assessment and Mitigation of Airborne Disease Transmission in Orchestral Wind Instrument Performance

Abraham, A.; He, R.; Shao, S.; Kumar, S. S.; Wang, C.; Guo, B.; Trifonov, M.; Grazzini Placucci, R.; Willis, M.; Hong, J.

There has been growing concern about high risk of airborne infection during wind instrument performance as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves. In collaboration with 16 musicians from the Minnesota Orchestra, we employ multiple experimental and numerical techniques to quantify the airflow and aerosol concentration emitted from ten wind instruments under realistic performance conditions. For all instruments, the extent of the flow and aerosol influence zones are limited to 30 cm. Further away, the thermal plume generated by the human body is the dominant source of flow. Flow and aerosol concentration vary in response to changes in music amplitude, pitch, and note duration, depending on playing technique and instrument geometry. Covering the trumpet bell with speaker cloth and placing filters above the instrument outlet can substantially reduce the aerosol concentration. Our findings indicate that with appropriate risk mitigation strategies, musical instrument performance can be conducted with low risk of airborne disease transmission.