How loud are the mechanical valves?

[BDMc]

Welcome Aboard!

Welcome Aboard!

I first heard mine when I went to the bathroom for the first time post op. I thought it was my watch, and then remembered that was in the hospital safe. Then I checked for dripping faucets. No just my new valve! Well it's old now, and the rare times I hear it, I find it comforting to know it's working. Few others have noticed it. One girlfriend said she liked it. One short lived romance ended after the first night together. She said she couldn't sleep with it. In retrospect, I think it saved me there too! It isn't a fun adventure you are embarking on, but it is survivable, and you may feel as many of us have, much better afterwards. We are here for you. All the best, Brian

 

[imhayley]

Tick tick tick

Tick tick tick

Hello and I can hear my lil ticker as I type. It took me a while to adjust but I must say everyone in here told me the day would come when I would no longer hear it or forget about it and wooo hoooo that time is here I use a sound machine at night as suggested by fellow posters here, and it did the trick. I sleep so much better and it rains every single night.....it's great! You can find those at Bed Bath and Beyond by the way. Please also understand I'm one of those very sensitive types of people I suppose and could be bothered with things most people may not be. Uptight might be a better word! Well hope this helps..and have a tickin day

 

[JimBob]

Can't Hear - Kinda' Wish I Could.

Can't Hear - Kinda' Wish I Could.

When I first got home from the hospital I got my stethoscope out and couldn't wait to hear my new ATS valve - couldn't hear a thing! My wife tried - couldn't hear it either. Started to worry - was sure hoping to hear a little SOMETHING. Still can't hear it at all, not even in a quiet bedroom. No Eveready bunny here - no ticking!

 

[Granbonny]

Never hear mine

Never hear mine

and I can hear the beep from the upstairs..Fire alarm when the battery is low...or..I can hear the cat scratch..at the upstairs bedroom, if he got locked in.. .........BUT, never my valve. Sitting here..quiet..NOPE..nothing..For a $100,000 valve job..would like to hear it. Bonnie

 

[sue943]

Ooooh, someone else with an ATS, I have two of those and yes, they are SO quiet. I did hear mine in bed this morning but normally I can't.

 

[Gemma]

I can't get the links to work on the page Dirk posted - can someone tell me how the Sorin Bicarbon (bottom left) compares to the others? I know we listened to some valve "samples" on a page before Jim got his, but Sorin wasn't on there then.

Jim's ticking is pretty noticeable - or I've got supersonic hearing - can usually hear it not only in bed but also if he's a few metres away in the garden when he's only got a t-shirt on. Seems only to be when he's at a certain angle to me though. It's not the kind of thing that people notice in pubs or anything though! Another interesting time I've noticed it is in the swimming pool - if I'm doing backstroke I can tell how close Jim is to me from the loudness of the ticking resonating through the water!

I think it's a lot to do with both the valve size (Jim's is 27mm so the biggest aortic valve available I think) and body type - Jim's pretty skinny. What's true for one person may be totally different for another.

What I will say is that I really like the sound of Jim's valve ticking - very reassuring!

 

[Emma]

Chloe's ON-X is quite loud but then she's still only small and she's quite skinny too (lucky little moo! lol) so perhaps the loudness of it will change as she gets older and gets more flesh on her?
I can hear it when she's in bed from a few feet away from her and if she's sitting on my lap I can feel it ticking through my throat like its in me - wierd sensation! Also, as Gemma says, she has had a few funny looks in swimming pools from people that can hear or feel it through the water.
Really think it depends on body size and the individual though.
Emma
xxx

 

[OldManEmu]

Gemma I have tried and the link appears to work OK. The sounds will only play on Realplayer so you need to download this from the link on the Carbomedics site. The sounds will not play with Windows media player.

 

[Randy & Robyn]

So far, my On-X is exceptionally quiet. I notice it in small, quiet rooms as a very faint ticking like a watch, except much faster since my resting heart rate is still in the high 80s.

I just took a nap in a very quiet room and heard absolutely nothing. It does appear to be dependent on body position and blood pressure.

My wife has quite good hearing but can only hear it when her head is within a foot of my chest so my perception of it is a bit greater than what others can hear.

Randy

 

[aussigal]

A couple of posters have thought that the size of the patient could well be a clue to how loud the valve-tick is...

would anyone else like to comment on that...
I didnt really want to go around and ask for all the skinny people to answer here and the bigger people over there

a few that did think their size mattered were of the skinny variety

...this makes sense to me cos I am one of those fat-challenged people too and can hear mine beat now and I havent even gotten my mechanical valve yet! I'm beginning to think mine will drown out hubbys' snoring if I am lucky!

 

[ChuckVSP]

Body Size?

Body Size?

Ah, another topic of which I have been on both sides. When Dr. Glower installed these two valves just over five years ago, I weighed in at over 440 pounds . I was a right big sized feller.

(I was told as a child that smoking would stunt my growth, so I should have been 7 ft 12" to match my weight! Good thing I quit several years ago.)

In that time frame, I have gained up to 496, and in the last two years, I have managed to drop to 265 pounds . It has made no difference in the ticking noise. I think I am just in tune to it, and it doesn't bother me. The job I do is pretty sedentary (I am a police dispatcher, oh what fun) and it is easy to gain lots of weight in a hurry. Not so easy to get it off!

And yes, Tommy, feel free to use my saying, as the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

 

[Old clicker]

I rarely hear mine, except in enclosed places. But when I do here my valve, it is a very comforting sound: It's still ticking away. I do find it helpful to have a fan on at night for sleeping.

Same for me. I a little lazy today, so instead of typing it out I just stole it from Jim

 

[JimL]

I don't think body size has anything to do with the sound -- except insofar as the sounding chamber is changed. As I move around, the sound changes. If I put my arms forward, I increase the echo, and the valve is much easier to hear. One night I was listening to my valve, and it suddenly stopped. I didn't die, I don't think, so the only explanation I could think of was that the sound chamber inside me was changed slightly so the sound decreased. There is that internal sound chamber, which changes in strange ways, and then there is the external sound chamber: when in a confined space, the sound is reflected back.

 

[Rain]

I hear mine quite often.

I hear mine quite often.

Oh come on, Jim.... wouldn?t it make sense that if you had a little more ?insulation? around the valve it would be quieter?

Just wonderin'..... because just a couple days ago when I was out visiting my son's house that is being built.... I asked him why they were insulating the water pipes that are below the second floor... (I mean... they aren't going to freeze there!) My son (he's not a plumber, but he is an engineer) told me they were being insulated so that you wouldn't hear the water running through them.

I know..... that's a stretch.... but sorta the same!!

 

[aussigal]

personal insulation thats about the same as I was thinking...

Chuck you have had an amazing weight-change...congrats on that effort!...it couldnt have been easy...

did you get your valve when you were a big-boy or a lil skinny dude?...

It seems that those who have heard their valves find they get quieter as they get used to them~!?....

 

[TomS]

I haven't joined any discussions recently, but wanted to weigh in here just in case you are still on the fence. I'm 48 and had a 31mm St. Jude Aortic valve put in six months ago. I also had an aneurysm repair. Having been there, here are my thoughts on mechanical versus bio.
1. Yes, I can hear and feel every beat. They tell me this is more from the conduit that replaced the aortic root than the valve, and that it will subside over time. After my first few months I got really sick of it. Now I'm getting used to it. Bottom line - yes I can hear it and feel each beat.
2. I was very healthy pre-op, and got active again fairly quickly post-op. I played golf six weeks after surgery and skied 12 weeks post op. But, it's been six months, and only now do I feel 100% recouped from the operation. It just dawned on me the other day - "Wow, I'm completely back to normal again". With a lot of vitamin E, the scar is also fading, and I'm able to do everything that I did before the operation. For the weeks and months previous, for whatever reason, I didn't fully feel that way.
3. I don't want to scare you, the operation, and the fact that you realize that you will have a bit of recovery ahead is completely tolerable, BUT, personally I would like to avoid at all costs ever going through that recovery again. I didn't have the patience. I don't want to go through the echo's, the uh-oh's, the waiting, the operation, the family stuff, the impact to my psyche around work, or the recovery more than once.
4. And lastly, coumadin is a pill that I take once a day before I go to sleep. I get my finger pricked every three weeks or so for a check up. That is the extent of it. I realize that 1% of people per year have an issue resulting from it, I do not however know any of the details on that 1% to use it as a decision factor.
Good luck to you, and all the best in your decision process and road ahead.
Tom

 

[Graveheart]

Thanks again to you all.

Thanks again to you all.

I'm reading everything. You are a great resource and comfort.

 

[vboesen]

Clicking

Clicking

The "clicking" does not bother my daughter (the one who has it) but others sometime can hear it, For example, In her Criminal Justice class the other day taking an exam when someone shouted "will you turn that #@?!** clicking off!!??" She had a good chuckle.

Welcome more from out there!

Valerie

 

[sue943]

Ouch, that is so hard to read in all uppercase.

What sort of valve do you have? I have two valves and mine are not noisy.

 

[Rich]

I would say body fat makes no difference at all.
I have been thin all my life and still am, beleive me there is not much fat on these bones.
Yet I still hear nothing even in the quietest setting.
And it has been close to ten years.
I think Jim has the right idea about what causes the noise to be heard.
Rich