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Apart from material characteristics, the sound transmission properties of the reconstructed tympanic membrane are strongly influenced by the reconstruction technique. The choice of the surgical technique should consider requirements based on mechanical stability and acoustic transfer characteristics of the transplant.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, singing activities for children and young people have been strictly regulated with far-reaching consequences for music education in schools and ensemble and choir singing in some places. This is also due to the fact, that there has been no reliable data available on aerosol emissions from adolescents speaking, singing, and shouting. By utilizing a laser particle counter in cleanroom conditions we show, that adolescents emit fewer aerosol particles during singing than what has been known so far for adults. In our data, the emission rates ranged from 16 P/s to 267 P/s for speaking, 141 P/s to 1240 P/s for singing, and 683 P/s to 4332 P/s for shouting. The data advocate an adaptation of existing risk management strategies and rules of conduct for groups of singing adolescents, like gatherings in an educational context, e.g. singing lessons or choir rehearsals.

In this study, emission rates of aerosols emitted by professional singers were measured with a laser particle counter under cleanroom conditions. The emission rates during singing varied between 753.4 and 6095.37~P/s. Emission rates for singing were compared with data for breathing and speaking. Significantly higher emission rates were found for singing. The growth rates between singing and speaking were between 3.97 and 99.54. Further, effects of vocal loudness and gender were investigated. The present study should support the efforts to improve the risk management in cases of possible aerogenic virus transmission, especially for choir singing.

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