Hi Everyone, another newbie.

[robysue]

Wanting to add my two cents:

Noise from a CPAP set up can happen in three different places:

1) The machine itself makes noise, or rather the fan inside the machine makes noise.  As others have pointed out, this is usually in the mid 20s in terms of decibels and is usually quiet enough to not be bothersome to most people.

2) The air being blown through the hose and mask and out the exhaust ports can also make noise.  And some masks are "noisier" than others.    The "fix" for this noise is to figure out what the airflow is hitting and find a way to give the exhaust flow enough room to dissipate more quietly.  Masks that have diffusers for the exhaust vents are typically quieter than a similar mask without a diffused exhaust vent.  In other words, the P10 nasal pillows exhaust venting is significantly quieter than the FX nasal pillows exhaust venting.  Likewise, the Eson nasal mask is significantly quieter when the optional diffuser is used over the exhaust vents.

3) Unintentional leaks out the mouth or around the edge of the mask seal can be extremely noisy, but they also tend to be more intermittent.  Fixing the noise from an unintentional leak means fixing the leak itself.


The OP says she uses a nasal pillows mask and she writes:

... machine sounds like we are on a plane.  Then when I inhale I sound like Darth Vadar.

Given those facts, I have to say that my guess is that she's using the Swift FX nasal pillows mask since it has a pretty noisy exhaust vent ----particularly if it hits the bedcovers or the bed pillows AND she's implying the Darth Vadar noise (amplified sound of her normal hearing) is part of the problem.

So my advice: Try the Resmed P10 nasal mask.  See if that fixes the noise problem.

[Cazno2]

Thanks all. If I remove the mask and just cover the hose with my hand the machine sound shows near 40 decibels on my phone app, so even if machine is set to 9cm is this still excessive? Has anyone else measured their sound level?

But on a good note my AHI is 1.5 and it has pretty much stopped my snoring. I use the snore lab app to record my noise during the night and went from Epic for over 70% of sleep time to less than 1%. So am happy with that, just hope I can get a quieter machine.

And yes Robysue I am using the Swift FX nasal pillows, I keep the air vent away from anything so as to not hear the rush of air but you are right in which it could be amplifing the sound of air through hose. I did try the P10 pillow and was slightly quieter but I think the size was too small for me as woke up in the middle of the night struggling to breath in through the nose. Will try a
larger size.