Article
Acoustic effects of professional singing masks (vor Ort)
Authors
* Presenting author
Day / Time: 23.03.2022, 09:40-10:00
Room: 47-05
Typ: Regulärer Vortrag
Session: Musikalische Akustik 3
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Abstract:
Wearing face coverings has become essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast to breathing, speaking, and especially singing emits very high volumes of aerosols. For this reason, masks specially designed for professional singers have been developed that allow for large articulation movements during singing. This work aims to investigate the sound attenuation properties of five professional singer masks in order to assess the direction-dependent acoustic effects of these measures on the singing quality. The results show both frequency-dependent attenuation and amplification for different mask types and directions. For frequencies up to 2 kHz, singer masks with an included transparent face shield show partial amplification effects of 10 dB, while fabric masks do not exhibit significant attenuation or amplification effects (minimal acoustic loss). Above a frequency of 2.5 kHz, the face-shield masks show the most significant sound attenuation with 30 dB, while fabric masks have an overall lower sound attenuation of a maximum of 5 dB. In addition, the study shows that at low frequencies, the sound is amplified or attenuated equally in all directions. At higher frequencies, the attenuation is higher to the front than in the back direction.