TOKYO: People release 14 times more respiratory droplets when singing karaoke while eating and drinking than during normal conversation, a study by Akiyoshi Iida, professor at Toyohashi University of Technology, has found.

In the study, the amount of droplets emitted from a person’s mouth was measured by the average number of spots per square centimeter that appeared on a water-sensitive paper attached to the inside of a mouth shield.

The amount of droplets generated when people sang loudly at 80-90 decibels for 15 seconds while eating and drinking was 14 times the amount produced when they talked normally at 60-70 decibels for 25 seconds.

In cases not involving eating and drinking, the amount of droplets when singing in normal voice and loudly was four and 11 times more than that during normal conversation, respectively.   

The amount when people talked loudly was nine times more than that during normal conversation and twice as much in conversation involving eating and drinking.

“We hope to use the data for analysis using the Fugaku supercomputer to support the compilation of measures against the novel coronavirus,” Iida said. Fugaku, developed by Japanese government-affiliated research institute Riken and other organizations, has been ranked as the fastest supercomputer in the world.

JIJI Press