CPAPtalk.com

My Remstar made a whistling noise so the DME exchanged it for a quieter one. The hose can also be noisy if it's on your pillow or on wood. One of those velour covers helps. You may want to pad the hole it goes through in your cabinet.

Like you, I'm sensitive to noise at night. Here's what I do...
A drop of PurSleep French Vanilla on a little diffuser by the air filter and soft headphones with something like The Silent Path by Robert Haig Coxon. Works almost every time.

Good luck in your quest for peace and quiet!

A week ago, I posted a note here about the M series whisper cap, which cpap.com sells now, and which I ordered.

I have received this item and tried it out. In case it might be helpful, here's my experience with this item.

My wife and I tried an "A/B" comparison, running the M series with and without the Whisper Cap attached. We otherwise silenced the room. We both agreed that the Whisper Cap does, in fact, reduce the noise from the M series machine. However, the reduction is very, very small. So small that it would not make any difference, I suspect, to a cpap user or bed partner who is bothered by the noise made by the M series machine.

Therefore, I recommend against purchasing this item.

One other note:

Before using this item, I asked cpap.com if I should wash it. Since it attaches to the air intake of the M series unit, all the air you breathe through your mask first comes through the Whisper Cap. I was concerned that if it had any residue from the manufacturing process (likely made in China, who brought you tainted dog food and childrens toys), tiny particles from this residue would get into my lungs.

The customer service rep from cpap.com strongly discouraged me from washing the whisper cap, or getting any water or soap into it. If you look inside it, it has walls and channels for the air to go through and around. It would be hard to thoroughly rinse the soap out, and hard to make sure it was dry.

I understand others have a better view of the whisper cap. I respect their views, but I wanted to share my experience to provide additional info to any of you who might be considering purchasing this item.

Best,
Ron

roncron wrote: My wife and I tried an "A/B" comparison, running the M series with and without the Whisper Cap attached. We otherwise silenced the room. We both agreed that the Whisper Cap does, in fact, reduce the noise from the M series machine. However, the reduction is very, very small. So small that it would not make any difference, I suspect, to a cpap user or bed partner who is bothered by the noise made by the M series machine.

Interesting. I wonder if the difference is

(a) perception (we're observing similar differences in sound and ascribe different values to that);

(b) whisper caps (production variance);

(c) CPAPs (production variance in the M series - maybe mine started off louder and thus had more to be silenced);

(d) masks.

Point (d) strikes me as a strong possiblity, since for me and my wife the post-whisper-cap noise seems almost entirely to be mask noise, which of course the whisper cap can't really do anything about, with perhaps (c) as the second most likely contender, followed by (a) and (b), in that order.

Thanks for the Whisper Cap test. This is my first week on the CPAP and the noise bothered me greatly the first night. After reading some tips here, I moved it down lower onto a bench near the floor. That seems to be helping somewhat, but I was willing to try the Whisper Cap if the consensus was that it would improve things. For now, I think I'll hold off, using my radio that provides white noise, when necessary.

By the way, my hubby is having his second night of his sleep study tonight and is supposed to get the same CPAP machine that I have. We'll be able to compare to see if one machine might be noisier than the other.

lawtalker wrote: Interesting. I wonder if the difference is
(d) masks.
Point (d) strikes me as a strong possiblity, since for me and my wife the post-whisper-cap noise seems almost entirely to be mask noise, which of course the whisper cap can't really do anything about, with perhaps (c) as the second most likely contender, followed by (a) and (b), in that order.

When we did the test, we could distinguish mask noise from machine noise. The results I posted above only concerned machine noise.

I agree with Ozij and Babette,

A neoprene mouse pad will dampen vibration from the machine to the cabinet, reducing the sounding-board effect.

Another factor to consider may be the type of mask. My Swift with the M series seems three times quieter than my Full Face mirage, partly because of the greater 90% leak rate of the FF mirage. The FF mask itself makes more noise, above and beyond the noise of the machine. I have to cover or plug my ears or wake up with tinnitus from the white noise if I use the FF.

ozij wrote:I'd also put the machine iteslf on a towel, or a mousepad, or both.

O.

better put that one on a sponge!!