DOI: 10.25338/b8gd1b
title: Data from: An improved and highly efficient geometry for facemasks

description: The dataset provided here is associated with the work "An
 improved and highly efficient geometry for facemasks," by Cappa et
 al, currently submitted for publication. This includes
 measurements made of the influence of a new cloth mask, designed
 originally for singing, on the emission of micron-scale
 aerosols from various expiratory activities (singing, speaking) and on
 inhalation of ambient particles. The dataset provided here includes *.txt
 files exported from an Aerodynamic Particle Sizer that contain time-series
 of the abundance of particles, by size (in particles per second), measured
 in the breath of study participants across experiments wherein people were
 either talking or singing. Also, *.txt files of the measured
 amplitude of the speech or singing associated with these activities are
 provided. Data are provided for conditions when people were not wearing
 any masks or were wearing the new singing masks. For wearing of singing
 masks, data are provided for participants singing while in various
 physical orientations with respect to the sampling instrument. Further
 details, including the file naming scheme, are provided in the associated
 Read Me file and the Usage Notes. All personally identifying information
 has been removed.
description: Participants were asked to
 perform various expiratory activities (speaking the <i>Rainbow
 Passage</i> (Talk), singing <i>Ode to Joy </i>(Ode), or
 singing a song of the participants choice (Song)) while wearing no mask or
 newly designed singing mask). Study participants performed these
 activities in front of a funnel connected to an aerodynamic particle sizer
 (APS, TSI Model 3021), which measured the size-dependent aerosol
 concentration, and to a condensation particle counter (CPC, TSI Model
 3775). Size-dependent concentrations were measured every 1-second during
 the activities. Additionally, the intensity and duration of the talking
 and coughing activities were measured using a calibrated microphone. The
 APS  and CPC inlet was located in a HEPA-filtered laminar flow hood to
 reduce background counts to near zero. Participants performed activities
 in different orientations with respect to their position in front of the
 funnel. These included: No mask: facing
 straight on, wearing no mask Forward (F): facing
 straight on, wearing mask Top (T): Head tilted
 downwards to have bridge of nose in front of funnel, wearing
 mask Side (S): Head turned sideways to have edge of
 mask against cheek in front of funnel, wearing mask Bottom (B): Head tilted upwards
 or above funnel to have chin area in front of funnel, wearing
 mask Further details are provided in
 the associated manuscript (Cappa et al., submitted).
description: <b>Please see ReadMe
 File.</b> <b>Files
 Provided:</b> Provided for each
 participant/mask type/expiratory activity are the following
 files: (i) a text
 (.txt) file containing the tab-delimited exported files from the APS.
 Particle sizes are in microns; the smallest size includes all particles
 measured below that size. Particle counts are given for each size every
 second. The APS data were exported from the TSI, Inc. AIM software as tab
 delimited. The file structure for these files is provided below. These
 files are located in subfolders named by participant ID (e.g., “P1”) and
 have the naming structure APS_YYYY_M_ZZZZ_PX, where X is the participant
 number (1-11), YYYY is the designator for each mask type (NoMask or Mask),
 and ZZZZ is the activity (Talk, Ode, Song), and M is the
 orientation.  (ii) a .txt file similar to that
 from (i) but for the CPC data. The data are tab delimited and exported
 from the CPC. Particle concentrations are particles
 cm<sup>‑3</sup>. File names have the structure
 CPC_YYYY_M_ZZZZ_PX. (ii) a .txt file containing the
 microphone signals (amplitude, in volts) recorded during the activity. The
 time-interval between points is 2.26757e-5 seconds. These files are
 provided for both the talking and singing activities. For talking, the
 total time per file is variable and depends on the amount of time it took
 for the reading, but is around 100 seconds. For singing the total time is
 around 140 seconds. There is only one column per file. These files are
 located in subfolders named by participant ID (e.g., “P1”) and have the
 naming structure wav_YYYY_M_ZZZZ_FX or wav_YYYY_M_ZZZZ_MX, where X is the
 participant number (1-11), YYYY is the designator for each mask type
 (NoMask or Mask), and ZZZZ is the activity (Talk, Ode, Song). 
 The above *.txt files are
 located in subfolders named by activity (Talk, Ode, Song) and then in
 separate folders for APS, CPC, and wav data.  Data were processed using Igor
 Pro (v. 8.04, Wavemetrics). The data are available as a single zip file
 for download. All personal identifiers have been removed.  <strong>File Structure for
 APS Data Files:</strong> Line 1: The sample time
 for each spectrum, in seconds (here, 1 second) Line 2:
 The assumed particle density entered in the AIM software, in
 g/cm^3 Line3: An indication of whether the Stokes
 correction was applied, off or on Line 4: The lower
 bound size of the smallest particles bin, in microns
 Line 5: The upper bound size of the largest particle bin, in
 microns Line 6: The Sample Number
 Line 7: The date of sample measurement (M/D/YYYY)
 Line 8: The start time of the sample measurement, in local
 time Line 9: First column = Aerodynamic Diameter label,
 Other columns = Raw Counts Line 10-61: First Column =
 the bin-center particle aerodynamic diameter, in microns
 Line 10-61: Other columns = the raw counts, in particles per
 sample time (here, particles/second) Line 62-85:
 Ancillary information (not used) <strong>File Structure for
 CPC Data Files:</strong> Line 1: File
 name Line 2: CPC Model Line3:
 blank Line 4: Sample Number Line 5:
 Start Date Line 6: Sample length
 Line 7: Averaging time in seconds Line 8:
 sample title Line 9: Instrument ID
 Line 10: Instrument errors Line 11:
 Blank Line 12: Average concentration (p/cm3)
 Line 12: Minimum concentration (p/cm3) Line
 13: Maximum concentration (p/cm3) Line 14: Standard
 deviation of concentrations (p/cm3) Line 15:
 blank Line 16: Column labels 
 Column 1: Elapsed time (seconds) Column 2:
 Concentration (p/cm3) Column 3: Analog signal
 1 Column 4: Analog signal 2 
 An additional file is provided summarizing the data shown in
 Figures 1-3. All processed data have been summarized in one Excel
 file.