pyotr filipivich wrote:

I can hear mine plainly although I wear hearing aids. Others have
stopped and shushed me and asked, "What is that noise?" I usually
have some fun with them before I tell them. Soon after surgery, I
was up hiking in the mountains. I had a light pack on, and could
hear a drip, drip, drip. I checked my water bottles, thinking it
was one of them leaking. The second time I heard it, I stopped and
listened and realized what it was. It's plain as day, but gets
covered up most of the time by normal sound levels. But when it is
quiet, you can hear it.


I get bugged by the hum of florescent bulbs. A click in the chest
... I dunno. Might drive me over the edge.
OTOH, it would provide a built in metronome.

There are benefits. If you go into atrial fibrillation (heart "irregularly
irregular") you can tell your doctor sooner rather than later. Or if you
start having dizzy spells, you can tell your doctor how you do not hear the
clicking for 10 seconds before you pass out. Etc. etc. Also your significant
other can pick up on irregularities very quickly.

Anyway, the new valves do not make as much noise as the old ones used to
make. The Starr-Edwards (ball-in-a-cage) was wonderfull as the ball tended
to rattle in the cage.

--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC