Wife says I'm making a lot of noise

[haroldb]

I have tried on and off for years to understand why there are nights when my wife complains that my mask is making enough noise to keep her from sleeping. This is an intermittent problem, although sometimes it happens a few days in a row. It happens much more often at high altitude (we live over 7000') than at lower altitudes. I actually believe there have been multiple causes, but although I've addressed things I've identified (e.g., I realized the weight of the tube might be pulling the mask from my face and started clipping the tube to the sheets, replace nasal pillows and headgear more often, I use a firm pillow that doesn't block the mask vents, tried different masks, etc.) the problem still occurs. I've logged food/drink/medications looking for a correlation. I've even tried recording sound throughout the night, but never get anything really identifiable.

Of course looking at data should help. But I'm not seeing anything. Last night she said their were long periods where I made a lot of noise, but in the data the only thing meaningful I see is an unusual leak from 23:10-23:25.

Anyone have suggestions on how I could figure out what is going on?

cpap.PNG (157.65 KiB) Viewed 985 times

[TropicalDiver]

Can you talk about the noise?

Is it a whistle? Farting sound? Wooshing noise?

From the unit? From the mask? From you?

[haroldb]

Updating with a bit more.

Whooshing. Not clear if it is from me or from the mask (one of the challenges has been to extract details from her). Definitely not the machine (in the case of the S9). It's not something that wakes me, so I have no idea what she is talking about.

A few years ago I set up my phone to record sound overnight for a few days and then reviewed the recordings the nights she complained of noise. I really couldn't hear anything other than a SLIGHT increase in airflow a few times during the night. Although I didn't correlate it with data from the S9, it sounded like what I'd expect from a leakage increase like in the graph I put in the original post. Even if that was noticeable to her, last night's few minutes around 23:15 doesn't correlate with a complaint that it was very noisy for an extended period.

About the only guess I have left is that perhaps I start to mouth-breath. But if that is the case, wouldn't it show up in the data in some way?

[djams]

Since you're already using a pillow mask, I'd recommend taking a look at the mask in my equipment list. It simply doesn't leak. Has improved my therapy immensely.

And equally important, my wife made it a point to tell me that she is sleeping better since I switched to the Bleep Dreamport.

[D.H.]

I think that her ears might be sensitive to the particular frequency at a given pressure. I don't know what to do about that, but just being able to prove it should be s step in the right direction.

[Miss Emerita]

It looks to me like you have a fair amount of mouth leakage off and on during the night. As an experiment, you might want to try taping your mouth. If the tape holds and your wife isn’t awakened, then you will know what the problem is. For tape that holds and is easy to use, I’d recommend Somnifix.

[haroldb]

It just so happens I have a box of Somnifix that I was going to try.

Thanks!

[haroldb]

One night isn’t proof, but it is interesting. I tried a Somnifix last night. Subjectively my wife said I was quieter, but that could be other things as well. However, looking at the data in Sleepyhead shows a very noticeable change. The leaks are low and flat until about 4AM, when I happened to wake up and pull off the Somnifix. Once I went back to sleep without the Somnifix I saw spikes including one that qualified as a large leak.

I’ll use the Somnifix for a few days and see what happens.

[Dog Slobber]

I think that her ears might be sensitive to the particular frequency at a given pressure. I don't know what to do about that, but just being able to prove it should be s step in the right direction.

Are you kidding?

He didn't marry a tuning fork!

[haroldb]

ROFLOL

Actually, my wife has unusually good hearing (and sense of smell). So the thought that she was being bothered by sounds that almost no one else would even notice was not as far fetched as it sounded!

[djams]

ROFLOL

Actually, my wife has unusually good hearing (and sense of smell). So the thought that she was being bothered by sounds that almost no one else would even notice was not as far fetched as it sounded!

Don't know if you have kids. I'm convinced that my wife's light sleeping is a holdover from giving birth. When our daughters were babies, she'd wake up when I'd open a bag of chips in the living room, opposite side of the house from the bedroom. Come out and yell at me for making so much noise. She's still a light sleeper, but nothing like that.

We humans (at least the females) still have some instinct left in us!

[Miss Emerita]

Haroldb, congratulations on your experimental results, both for your wife and for you. Also, just sayin’ here, men lose their high-frequency hearing earlier than women do. At my house, that leads to a lot of fun times....