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Ripple
+0 points
·
over 5 years
ago
Original Poster
After months of delayed referrals and insurance hassles I finally got a Dream Station CPAP. Tried it out, the nose pillows and air pressure weren't bad but whenever I would breathe in the hum of the machine would raise in pitch, and when I breathed out it would lower. In other words, the machine was amplifying my breathing sounds. I couldn't possibly fall to sleep having to listen to that. Is this normal? If the machine won't remain at a steady hum it's a deal breaker. So disappointed.
I recently had a hearing test, and as a result got fitted for hearing aids. Now, I know why my CPAP machine and mask is so quiet! That aside, I believe the DreamStation is one of the quietest machines on the market at about 24 dB. So, the good news in this would seem to be that your hearing is very good! And I can tell you that hearing aids are not a lot of fun... I suspect the noise is something you will get used to. You may want to try some background noise like running a fan. It should not take much noise to mask the sound of the machine. Depending on your hose length you may be able to locate it further away from you, and perhaps put a pillow or something between you and the machine. I don't believe there is any quieter machine than the one you have. The ResMed is rated at about 1 dB noisier, so switching brands is not likely to help.
I see from your first post that you were diagnosed with an AHI of 29 and 80% of it was central? What kind of DreamStation did you end up with? Are your central events and AHI well controlled to less than 5?
Ripple
+0 points
·
over 5 years
ago
Original Poster
I just got the machine yesterday so no results. There was just no way I was going to be able to fall asleep while having to listen to the amplified sound of my breathing.
It just says Dream Station, I don't know what model.
My Drs. say that the high percentage of central events could be an artifact of the testing and they weren't too concerned.
Strange. Here is a document which I believe gives the model numbers of the various types of DreamStation.
Yes, all CPAP machines have to follow the inhale and exhale cycle of the user's breathing. When you breath in they have to speed up to maintain pressure as the flow goes up. When you breath out they have to slow down to let you exhale through the mask vent while holding pressure constant. The ID label should look something like this:
I have a free app on my smartphone that measures noise in dB. Our of curiosity I tested my ResMed AutoSet while I wore the mask. I got about 23 dB on inhale and 26 on exhale. So there is a slight difference. However the general room noise is about 23-24 dB, so it is really hard to hear the machine over the background noise, even with my hearing aids on. If you have a smartphone or ipod or tablet you may want to try that to see what kind of noise level you are getting. I was using the unweighted slow response setting.
The DSX500 is the Auto CPAP. It is the best one in the APAP series, but may not be ideal for treating central apnea. You can find some information on it at this link:
I would keep an eye on your central apnea events. That DSX500 should report them. If you can't get total AHI below 5, you may need some adjustment to your pressure settings. Or, in the worst case a different type of machine.
sleeptech
+0 points
·
over 5 years
ago
Sleep
Enthusiast
That noise you hear is a result of you breathing deeply. Almost all machines will do the same if you breathe deeply. I'm sure it's no comfort to know that once you fall asleep, and your breathing falls into a nice regular rhythm, that noise will almost certainly stop. You could try not breathing so deeply (easier said than done I know). It is possible that if you increase your starting pressure a little you will feel like you are getting more air and you don't need to breathe so deeply. You may also have C-Flex turned on which will amplify the effect of which you speak. If this is the case you can try turning it off.
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