Survey for developing a device that minimizes clicking sound (follow-up to interviews in Spring)

[Protimenow]

There was an episode in the early years of Gray's Anatomy where this renowned violinist who had a pacemaker complained that he can no longer play violin because the pacemaker messed with his timing. Other surgeons refused to remove it, so this famous surgeon took the job.

Of course, the violinist died during surgery.

I had a few problems with this.

The pacemaker wasn't embedded in his heart, so what was the big deal? Where was the risk?

And if the pacemaker was that big a problem, why didn't they just turn it off?
Maybe there was no time to get a new episode written, instead of this ridiculous pacemaker story. Maybe they HAD to go with it. Maybe they figured that most viewers were so ignorant about pacemaker placement and management that they BELIEVED major heart surgery was required to remove a pacemaker.

Okay -- off target, we're talking about somehow silencing the clicking. But, of course, we've already drifted off target.

 

[V__]

I put a light blanket on my chest and no longer hear the noise. So, for me it's external noise thru the chest wall to my ears.

You mean, the chest wall emits the sound that propagates in the air to reach your ears? Which is stopped by the blanket? If so, a winter coat should also stop it.

And plugging my ears changes the tone, but the sound is still there. Putting my hand over it just amplifies it. Like it echoes off my hand and sternum.

This would seem to indicate the "internal" sound propagation in the body, contrary to the reasoning above.

For this, and other reasons, it's kinda looking like a psychoacoustics topic. That is, it's not just a mere "sound question"

 

[pellicle]

You mean, the chest wall emits the sound that propagates in the air to reach your ears? Which is stopped by the blanket? If so, a winter coat should also stop it.

like this one?

 

[pellicle]

But, of course, we've already drifted off target.

there was a target?

I thought it was a range?

 

[pellicle]

not just a mere "sound question"

a coo sticks

 

[Bionic Orange]

I am in the fortunate group who, since day one, have hardly heard my mechanical valve. I am a fat guy, so not sure if that has helped, but also I am sure I remember reading somewhere that the size of the valve is relevant - a larger valve being quieter than a small one, presumably because a given volume of blood flowing through it is going slower than a small valve and so the opening and closing of the "leafs" is slower. Anyone else remember seeing that?

Hi LondonAndy, I am a skinny guy who just received my surgery one week ago. I was in ICU just after my surgery, with all those tubes hanging out of me. I asked my wife if they had done my surgery yet, because I didn't hear and clicking sound . A week later and I still don't. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I have an On-X 25mm

 

[V__]

like this one?
View attachment 889559

I guess whichever carries your boat blocks the sound well enough. (If this is indeed the transmission mechanism.)

But I was only thinking out loud. Not in a position to test this for myself.

 

[V__]

there was a target?

I thought it was a range?

Not sure if it was meant as a joke, but for some reason I found the comment to be completely hilarious. Made my morning

 

[pellicle]

Not sure if it was meant as a joke, but for some reason I found the comment to be completely hilarious.

happy to have made someones morning ;-)

Ambiguity is the key to a good script.

The clarity is devastating. But where is the ambiguity? It's over there in a box...​

Ecce homo, ergo elk. La Fontaine knew his sister and knew her bloody well. The point is taken, the beast is moulting, the fluff gets up your nose. The illusion is complete; it is reality, the reality is illusion and the ambiguity is the only truth. But is the truth, as Hitchcock observes, in the box? No there isn't room, the ambiguity has put on weight.​

 

[Unicusp]

Hi LondonAndy, I am a skinny guy who just received my surgery one week ago. I was in ICU just after my surgery, with all those tubes hanging out of me. I asked my wife if they had done my surgery yet, because I didn't hear and clicking sound . A week later and I still don't. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I have an On-X 25mm

I also received the On-X but 23mm and did not hear it at all the first couple of weeks after surgery. I theorize that it was due to inflamed tissue or it was in the break-in phase. Ha. I can't recall when I started to hear it. Good luck! Let us know if and when you start to hear it.

 

[pellicle]

I theorize that it was due to inflamed tissue or it was in the break-in phase

I hope you didn't use a fully synthetic oil during the break in, but only after the first oil change...

 

[pellicle]

I have an On-X 25mm

best of luck with not hearing it (but hey, I have found it beneficial to hear it). It quickly alerts me to "getting wound up" in stuff (like conversations with people who take a contrary position to me)

 

[Superman]

best of luck with not hearing it (but hey, I have found it beneficial to hear it). It quickly alerts me to "getting wound up" in stuff (like conversations with people who take a contrary position to me)

I disagree.

 

[pellicle]

I disagree.

look, this isn't an argument ... its just contradiction

 

[Unicusp]

I hope you didn't use a fully synthetic oil during the break in, but only after the first oil change...

Regular Castrol GTX 0W/20. Good cusp edge seating on the carbon. Ha

 

[Dana]

There was an episode in the early years of Gray's Anatomy where this renowned violinist who had a pacemaker complained that he can no longer play violin because the pacemaker messed with his timing. Other surgeons refused to remove it, so this famous surgeon took the job.

Of course, the violinist died during surgery.

I had a few problems with this.

The pacemaker wasn't embedded in his heart, so what was the big deal? Where was the risk?

And if the pacemaker was that big a problem, why didn't they just turn it off?
Maybe there was no time to get a new episode written, instead of this ridiculous pacemaker story. Maybe they HAD to go with it. Maybe they figured that most viewers were so ignorant about pacemaker placement and management that they BELIEVED major heart surgery was required to remove a pacemaker.

Okay -- off target, we're talking about somehow silencing the clicking. But, of course, we've already drifted off target.

If the violinist had complete heart block, the pacemaker is the only thing keeping him or her alive. Remove it or turn it off and you turn off life.

 

[pellicle]

Remove it or turn it off and you turn off life.

I just love the passive aggressive lol

\o/

 

[LondonAndy]

If the violinist had complete heart block, the pacemaker is the only thing keeping him or her alive. Remove it or turn it off and you turn off life.

Whilst that it possible, and I don't want to mess up a nice anecdote, just for the benefit of anyone in the waiting room for their valve surgery here's my pacemaker experience!

"Complete heart block" is seldom as dramatic as that. I have a pacemaker for complete heart block due to surgical complication when they did my aortic valve in 2014. Immediately after surgery I had an external pacemaker, which probably all of us had, as it is standard procedure in case of the surgical complication happening. Each day the surgery team would come and adjust the settings of it to see how I responded, as the heart's natural electrics can recover. One day they evidently turned it down more than previously, and the next thing I knew was two assistants were pushing me back upright in my chair, as I had fainted. So no natural recovery for me, and a pacemaker was inserted a week after the valve.

The battery was getting low last year, so they needed to replace it and that happened in October. Most people with complete heart block still have an "escape rhythm", but because of the incident I had in 2014 I thought I did not. The surgeon reassured me that if that was the case they would connect a temporary pacemaker to my leads whilst the device was replaced. But lo! This wasn't needed, and as I lay on the operating table I didn't even notice it had been disconnected.