People cough more during classical concerts | Hacker News Reader

People cough more during classical concerts

independent.co.uk

10 pointskieckerjan5 comments

Title "People cough more during classical concerts" implies that people are more likely to cough during classical concerts than non-classical concerts. Article implies that people cough more in classical concerts than at home.

There are numerous biological, physical and neurological factors that can affect cough rate, and implication "it's voluntary" seems to be rather ridi... far-fetched.

Paper link BTW: https://ideas.repec.org/p/cue/wpaper/awp-05-2012.html

Unfortunately I can't download the paper; I get an error page.

I had the same reaction as you though.

My impression is people have respiratory issues, throat irritation, and it's worse during the concert season in dry concert halls, maybe exacerbated by personal fragrances, material from other people in the air and so forth. People try to restrain from coughing but it gets to be too much, and cough during breaks in music because there are no notes to interrupt. Alternatively the coughing is more audible during breaks, so people think it's more common at certain times, but that's only because it's easier to detect the coughing then.

Maybe the paper addresses these things but I can't tell.

I highly doubt it's some form of implicit communication though.

I've noticed I do this at classical concerts vs listening at home, and I haven't been sure if it's because it's really true or I'm just more conscious of the noise I'm making in public. I also kind of wondered if people were stifling coughs until between pieces.

More old people attend classical concerts. Old people cough more.

It's easier to hear people cough during a classical concert.

Whether other people are coughing affects whether a person will cough at that moment. That does not mean people cough intentionally.

What's this obsession with people coughing during concerts? Concerts are a social event. As such, they involve people and the physical processes that people are involved with. If you fall apart because someone coughed in your concert, stay home.

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