Whisper cap?

[rws]

Umm, what the heck is it? Sounds like some type of head gear??

Thanks, Rick

[SleepyInDC]

It is a piece of plastic for the M Series that goes over the air intake on the flow generator. It softens the air flow in an effort to help reduce the sound. It supposedly lowers the sound by about 3dB. Think about it like a muffler, just on the input instead of the output.

[rws]

Okay thanks. I hope it come with the new machine, not another option.

[6PtStar]

It is a little box that fits on the back of a Respirionics "M" series cpap's that acts like a air input muffler. It is supposed to make it a bit quiter. Some that have tried it say it helps a little but not a lot!!

Jerry

[SleepyInDC]

Okay thanks. I hope it come with the new machine, not another option.

It doesn't come on the machine. But its a little add-on part.... see:
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... r-cap.html

[plr66]

Okay thanks. I hope it come with the new machine, not another option.

Nope, it doesn't come with the machine. It costs about $15 plus shipping, and I personally found it to be completely worthless. YMMV.

[rws]

Thanks everyone..... I hope I get a power cord with the machine.

[chet]

[/quote]Nope, it doesn't come with the machine. It costs about $15 plus shipping, and I personally found it to be completely worthless. YMMV.[/quote]

My experience as well.

[KSMike]

I haven't been able to contribute much to this board, so thought I'd take a crack at this one with a somewhat unscientific test. My equipment is shown in my sig and my current settings are 10-13cm. For this test I didn't use the ramp feature. The machine still has low hours, having been new at the end of January '09 when I started therapy.

I placed my sound pressure meter 1 foot from my machine and to the side and level with it, hopefully approximating the physical relationship many people have to their machines while sleeping. I placed my mask to my face and turned it on with and without the cap. The maximum sound levels I observed were:

Without cap:

• Exhale: 54dB
  Inhale: 57dB

With cap:

• Exhale: 54dB
  Inhale: 55dB

This is with a decent, but not lab quality, sound pressure meter.

Since decibel measurements are logarithmic, a reduction of ~2dB on inhale is technically significant. However, since this range of pressure levels is fairly low, our perception may be that there isn't much difference. As a quick reference, here's a list of common sounds and their typical pressure levels:

• * Aircraft at take-off (180)
  * Fireworks (140)
  * Snowmobile (120)
  * Chain saw (110)
  * Amplified music (110)
  * Lawn mower (90)
  * Noisy office (90)
  * Vacuum cleaner (80)
  * City traffic (80)
  * Normal conversation (60)
  * Refrigerator humming (40)
  * Whisper (20)
  * Leaves rustling (10)
  * Calm breathing (10)

What does all of this prove? Nothing, probably.

[jdm2857]

Since they already sell the whisper cap to quiet the machine, maybe Respironics should come out with a "Dimmer Cap" to go over the blue lights.

Or maybe Respironics should figure out that their machines are in the same room as sleeping people, and design them with that in mind.

[hjjsnell]

Well darn I was hoping something like this would work better because just last night I was thinking how loud my machine was and even my hubby was commenting on it. He said it definitely quieter than my snoring but louder than he expected, louder than I expected. I won't be buying the whisper cap I guess...don't want to waste the money if it's not going to help enough, ya know! Surprisingly enough the blue lights don't bother me though but I've seen that they do bother quite a few people. Hopefully they will come out with a quieter not so bright machine in the future.

~Heather

[Pugsy]

I must be the odd man out here but I can't hear the machine and my husband says he can't either. The lights are actually a blessing as I am in a basement bedroom with no windows.
Some things to lessen noise that I have seen posted.
Put the machine in a night stand drawer
Put the machine on a hand towel to decrease possible vibration and noise
Put the machine on a mouse pad to reduce vibration
Use a fan for white noise
Earplugs for the super sensitive ears

[sepool]

I use a whisper cap and I like it. I use the M-series APAP, with pressure from 16-20. Maybe it makes a difference for me more than others because of my higher pressures.

It seems like it does help - maybe about half as loud - 2 or 3 dB.

[araminta]

I also found that on my machine the whisper cap helped reduce noise. As did using the humidifier -- at first I wasn't.
I also place the cpap on a mouse pad. And have it on the nightstand shelf that's lower than the mattress.

My sweetie - a person with sensitive ears who works on radio - finds it barely audible.

[rws]

I don't think I'd use the whisper cap anyway. I have pretty bad tinnitus so I have the TV on at night to fall asleep. It's the only way I can override the screaming ringing in my ears!!