Humidifier, muffler, inventor?

UKnowWhatInSeattle · Post by **UKnowWhatInSeattle** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 2:44 pm

So, I have a proposal for all you brilliant inventors out there. I'm someone who doesn't seem to need heated humidification very often. However, as most of you have probably noticed, hooking your hose up directly to the flow generator (the mouth of the beast, as it were), results in quite a roar through the hose into your sinus cavities. So I usually have my humidifier in-line, but not turned on. I get a little passover humidification, but I mostly do it for the noise reduction. Heated humidifiers are pretty bulky and expensive mufflers.

My hope is that some smart inventor will come up with an in-line muffler that will be able to reduce the mouth-of-the-beast noise without reducing the air flow any more than a humidifier does (they have a few deflectors and baffles in them).

I'd much rather spend $30-$50 on a fist-sized "muffler" than take my $200 heated humidifier on the road or camping. Something like this doesn't already exist, does it?

The other option, of course, would be ear plugs that could be inserted from the inside...

Liam1965 · Post by **Liam1965** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 3:05 pm

UKnowWhatInSeattle wrote:My hope is that some smart inventor will come up with an in-line muffler that will be able to reduce the mouth-of-the-beast noise without reducing the air flow any more than a humidifier does (they have a few deflectors and baffles in them).

Hmmmm. I would be leery of such a thing. If you sleep all night with a muffler, won't you wake up...... <wait for it>...... exhausted?

Liam, really bad joke, but he couldn't resist.

wading thru the muck! · Post by **wading thru the muck!** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 3:18 pm

Liam,

I can see why you have difficulties in some areas of your life (like sleeping). The humor portion of your brain has grown so large it's just squeezed out the rest . Do you ever run out of jokes that have us all rolling off our chairs?

UKnowWhatInSeattle · Post by **UKnowWhatInSeattle** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 3:20 pm

Liam... you baffle me sometimes.

chrisp · Post by **chrisp** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 3:41 pm

How about a passover humidifier. They are much cheaper but a bit large. Or just the water chamber . They are less than $20. https://www.cpap.com/productpage/116

dwells2 · Post by **dwells2** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 4:09 pm

I ran a simple test, no scientific measurements:
1) I had hose attached to CPAP (Goodknight 420) with no mask attached to hose and I let the air blow past my ear.
2) I put the empty water chamber from my humidifier in line and let the air blow past my ear.
3) I partially filled the chamber with water and let the air blow by my ear.

I could discern no difference in the noise level between any of the three conditions. Therefore I doubt that a humidifier serves much purpose as a muffler.

I have a Pressure Valve (Humidifier Control) on order from cpap.com]. The purpose of this valve is to keep water vapor from a humidifier from backing up into the CPAP machine. The picture shows it as a wide spot in the line, with a one way (spring loaded?) valve in it. When it arrives I will test it and see if it acts as a muffler. It only cost $18.50 from cpap.com]. It should arrive Monday (the 21st) and I'll let you know.

dwells2 · Post by **dwells2** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 4:18 pm

Sorry about all the URL stuff, but the sight adds it automatically, whether you want it or not. I tried editing it out, but that didn't work.

i WENT BACK AND DISABLED AUTO-LINKS.

Mikesus · Post by **Mikesus** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 4:40 pm

You might want to try a inline hepa filter... Think they are only a few bucks on cpap.com...

UKnowWhatInSeattle · Post by **UKnowWhatInSeattle** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 5:41 pm

dwells,
I certainly notice a big difference with the full gear on... I have a Remstar/Pro and a brandy new 420E, both of which impart much more noise through the hose to the nasal mask when attached directly. I was pretty shocked the first time I took the Remstar camping without the humidifier. My wife said she didn't notice, so all the noise was "internal".

I like the pressure valve and/or HEPA inline filter ideas... Might be something useful there!

MaskedMechanic · Post by **MaskedMechanic** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 9:16 pm

I for one have found your "muffler" thoughts very interesting as well as funny. While I am a big fan of heated humidifiers for the way they treat my sinus, I have noticed that cpap machines make sounds that travel through the hose into my head. I am going to do some basic experiments to get a better understanding of what is going on. Thanks!

chrisp · Post by **chrisp** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 9:21 pm

Maybe these guys can help.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/muffler/muffler.html

Cheers,

Chris

glassgal · Post by **glassgal** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 9:59 pm

Hi all,

As a hearing challenged person in one ear, the noise from the machine doesn't really bother me all that much, BUT, I do get quite a bit of conductive noise (through the mastoid bone behind your ear) when sleeping on my side. My conductive hearing is better than my regular, through the air hearing, so I DO hear when sleeping on my hose -- even without my hearing aide! I use the NasalAire II with the small tubes around and behind my ears, so I lie right on my small hose when on my side. This may be the mechanism that some of you are experienceing, and I don't really don't know how you would stop that except avoid having the hose run behind your ear and lay on it.

Anyone who has had a full hearing evaluation will remember the thing that they put behind your ear to test your conductive hearing through your mastoid bone. Any audiologists out there who would like to pitch in here?

Sleep well,

Jane

SleepyGuy · Post by **SleepyGuy** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 11:43 pm

I have a humidifier, but don't use it. Instead I directly connect the hose to my Resmed AutoSet Spirit. I don't have a problem with noise.

I wonder if the mask makes a big difference? I use a Mirage Vista nasal mask. I've also used a ComfortFull full face mask. I never had a problem with vibration or noise.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 4:17 am

dwells2, I understand what you mean about the aggravation of having autolinks go into posts and sometimes resulting in the "URL" stuff.

Nowadays, I've been scrolling down to the bottom and marking "Disable Auto Links in this post" before I even start typing a message. If I don't do it before writing my message, I forget to disable it. Also, if I edit my message, I have to remember to go down and checkmark that again. grrrrr

Most people may like that new addition of "autolinks" going into messages. I don't.

Janelle · Post by **Janelle** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 6:21 am

I think it was on the Hans Rudolph site that I saw something that was like an inline air disperser which helped to muffled the noise of the air pressure. Believe it was under Accesories.

Humidifier, muffler, inventor?

Humidifier, muffler, inventor?

Re: Humidifier, muffler, inventor?

UKnowWhatInSeattle

Hearing the noise?

Machine	Mask