Cohort 1 and 2 raw data (anonymized) from: Barkoci et al. (2024) Measuring generation and dispersal of infectious respiratory particles – using respiratory and oral commensal bacteria as index organisms for respiratory pathogens .xlsx

This dataset contains information from two cohorts of participants. In Cohort 1 (n=16), participants were asked to speak in their normal conversational voice, followed by shouting. In Cohort 2 (n=15), participants performed various respiratory activities—shouting, breathing, singing, and coughing—while wearing randomly assigned face coverings. These included disposable medical face masks and four types of transparent face coverings.
The experiments were conducted using the IMADGENN (Isolator to Measure Aerosol and Droplet GENeration), a flexible-film isolator supplied with HEPA-filtered air, with all outputs also extracted through HEPA filtration. Participants performed the respiratory activities by opening a front window of the isolator, with settle plates containing Columbia blood agar positioned at distances of 10–100 cm to the left, right, and center. Additionally, a slit-to-agar air sampler was placed 1.2m from the participants.
Oral commensal bacteria (most commonly Streptococci and Neisseria spp.) captured on the settle plates and air sampler were used as proxies for respiratory pathogens.