San Francisco Opera Develops Mask Allowing Performers to Safely Sing Together

The San Francisco Opera costume department has teamed up with doctors from UCSF to create a mask that will allow the company's singers to safely rehearse together, NBC reports.

The mask was made from the same materials used to make the opera's corsets, and provides space for the performers to sing while still sealing in aerosols. The mask is multi-layered and loops over the ears and ties in the back. It also features a velcro pouch that allows performers to take a drink conveniently.

"They can sing full-out and rehearse just as if they didn't have a mask on," said Galen Till, the opera's senior costume production supervisor. "But this will protect them, and everyone around them."

The design of the mask came from the mind of opera-singing surgery professor Dr. Sanziana Roman.

"I had the prototype which I made on my kitchen table and it looked fantastic," said Roman. "What I realized is what we needed was a mask that would be able to allow individuals to come together as a group and rehearse and be in the same room together."

The opera's costume designers took Roman's homemade prototype and tweaked it to make it more attractive, comfortable and durable. It was then tested by an engineering professor at U.C. Davis. The tests revealed that it worked as planned.

"So it's quite protective of aerosols produced by individuals," Roman said, "but it's also quite protective of inhaled aerosols."

The opera plans to use the masks in April as it rehearses for a production of The Barber of Seville which will be performed outside in the Marin County Civic Center.

Read more on NBC.