Husbands CPAP keeping me awake

To start I should mention he has had his cpap for about 4 years now and has greatly improved his sleeping health. Bin the beginning I was able to sleep though the doh day of the machine..... for the past 6 months the machine is getting louder and I can hear every breath he takes and passes through the machine. It is now keeping me a awake at night. And while his health is important mine is as well. Not getting proper sleep breaks down your heart walls and cause heart related issues. It affects my ability to function in day to day tasks like driving my kids to school. It makes me light headed. Etc.

I don’t want him to stop using it; I’m just curious if maybe it needs to be cleaned; or have a tube up like a car does? Would that help?

After years of hearing me snore like a freight train and then stop breathing for long stretches of time, my wife now says she finds comfort in hearing my steady breathing with the machine.

It might be mask noise that you are hearing more than machine noise. And it may be that the background noise in the room is now quieter, which makes the CPAP setup sound louder.

I run a very quiet air purifier that adds just enough background noise to the room to make my machine/mask seem that much more "silent."

When machines have been relatively quiet for some time and they become noisy...there's always the chance that the machine motor may be starting to fail.

Get the machine checked out to make sure that the extra noise isn't related to the machine starting to fail.

Tired mom of two wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 01, 2019 10:07 pm

I don’t want him to stop using it; I’m just curious if maybe it needs to be cleaned; or have a tube up like a car does? Would that help?

There may be something wrong with it. There's really nothing to do like a tuneup, but one of the humidifier seals may be out of place, or it may be wearing out.

If we knew what kind of machine it was, exactly, we might be able to offer more helpful suggestions.

I would start by trying to figure out where the sound is coming from. Potential things I can think of:
a) Mask leaking against face.
b) Mask leak from a torn cushion, pillow, or failing mask part
c) Leaking hose (especially if one end is poorly attached or starting to fail -- sometimes near the end joint).
d) Leaking (or partially plugged) mask vent or elbow valve
e) The unit itself is vibrating
f) Failed (or torn) humidifier seal
g) Noise from inside the unit (fan starting to go, or a leak from machine housing)

If that doesn't work, you could consider:
a) Relocate the xpap unit so it is a bit lower
b) Generate white noise (such as fan) to help cover the sound.
c) Purchase a new unit (My Aircurve 10 is super quiet)
d) Wear ear plugs.
e) Sleep in another room.

It's been my experience that xpap machines get noisier as they get closer to failure.

Consider the inhaled dirt and the wear on bearing surfaces from a whole lot of hours.

That said, I quickly learned to like the xpap noise early in my initial pappian therapy. To me, it became more like ocean waves on the beach kind of noise.

And, a related story. Several years back I recall a post on this fine forum about a man who went through the expense to buy a quieter xpap so his wife would not have to put up with the blower noise.

After a week or so with the quieter machine, she asked hubby to resume with the previous unit, as she missed the noise.

Similar story, a year ago I got an airsense 10 autoset (replacing a PR-1). The airsense 10 is totally quiet, and that is my only complaint about this remarkable machine.\.

I use the quiet Airsense 10 AutoSet with a P10 mask and my wife thinks it is noisy. I guess it is noisier than no CPAP if you ignore snoring.

prodigyplace wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 03, 2019 5:19 am

I use the quiet Airsense 10 Autoaet with a P10 mask and my wife thinks it is noisy. I guess it is noisier than no CPAP if you ignore snoring.

Does your wife also hear a mouse fart?

My understanding is that the audibility of the "event" may depend on the location and size of the mouse itself, and possibly which direction it is facing at the time.

My husband is used to a noisy restless sleeper. He says he wakes up and has to check to make sure I'm breathing now.

jnk... wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 03, 2019 7:25 am

My understanding is that the audibility of the "event" may depend on the location and size of the mouse itself, and possibly which direction it is facing at the time.

I just love how you can, so effortlessly, boil things down to their essential elements.

Post of the year material, that there is.

Since the machine is four years old and the noise didn't bother you before, I agree with those who suggest it's time to consider replacing the machine.

Unfortunately, most insurance considers five years to be the replacement interval. Of course, I'm assuming that he did change the mask, the hose and the filters several times along the way. If any of those were not replaced recently, that could be the problem.

Also, did anything else in the sleep environment change? New carpet, new wallpaper, new beds, new sheets or bed-wear, different sleeping hours, new windows in the room, etc.?

In addition to the sleep environment, did anything else change? For instance, different medications, different diet or dinner hours, different employment situation or other changes to the daily routine?

Cpap usage in our family is like Oprah giving away cars: "you get a cpap, you get a cpap, and you get a cpap"


My husband's (Antikmotorcyle's son in law) cpap can keep me awake too. It's when he doesn't have his humidifier inserted properly, the hose inserted right, OR my theory:


"My Goose Down Pillow is Magnifying Noise from His CPAP!"

Here's what happens: he's cold and wants to get warm. I happen to be his "personal furnace". He moves over to the furnace and presses the hose, his head, etc. against my down pillow.

THE NOISE IS TRULY AWFUL and awfully loud. That's when hubby gets shoved away and neither of us is happy about that.

It does seem like my occasional tinnitus has gone to full-time tinnitus since the introduction of the cpap machine into our bedroom. If I'm asleep the noise is probably just blasting away into whichever ear is on the pillow.

We sleep on a regular mattress w/memory foam topper. Most foams are insulative and absorb sound. But FEATHERS, ah, feathers are another completely different animal.


And here's where we go down the rabbit hole: This is partly funny and partly serious. Wikipedia on "feather" is an eye-popping, holy-sh*t, I never imagined feathers were so complicated and multi-faceted in purpose kind of moment for me.

There are some scientific studies about the various properties of feathers; how owl wings make their flight silent, down feathers trap air for insulation, and

here's some links that talks about birds using feathers to make sound to attract the opposite sex.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/04/scie ... thers.html

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/ ... .2009.1576


I love it when there is scientific PROOF to back up a theory. But, I don't think there are any studies that have identified how much noise/sound/frequency etc. is coming from a goose feather pillow that has cpap equipment pressing on it nor whether or not cpap users are experiencing increased hearing loss.

In the meantime, I am pushing and shoving my 6' 210lb cpapping husband away to get some sleep. If anyone has better solutions, I'm all ears--well, what's left of them anyway.