Subjective noise perception and objective measurement of loudness following heart valve replacement with the St. Jude Medical and Duromedics Edwards bileaflet prostheses

: The performance of heart valve prostheses is generally judged by the rate of valve-related complications and the hemodynamic performance. Patients may be severely bothered by the metallic click generated by the closure of the valve. In 74 patients after valve replacement with Duromedics Edwards (DE) (n = 38) and St. Jude Medical (SJM) (n = 36) prostheses the sound energy was recorded and correlated to the complaints of the patients. At a distance of 10 cm the DE valves produced a significantly higher sound pressure with 47 +/- 7 db(A) compared to the SJM valves with 39.8 +/- 5 db(A) (p = 0.001). The noise level was also different for the valves in aortic or mitral position. After splitting into frequency bands the highest sound pressure was observed in the high frequency ranges (8 to 16 kHz) which represents the metallic click. 65% of patients were aware of the noise generated by the valve, 16% had sleep disturbances and 22% would prefer a more silent valve type. 12 of 38 patients with DE valves and 4 of 36 patients with SJM valves wished to have a less noisy valve type (Chi square p = 0.003). In annoyed patients the valves produced a higher sound amplitude of 49 +/- 8 db(A) as compared to undisturbed patients with 42 +/- 6 db(A) (p = 0.002). The noise level of mechanical heart valves should be considered before selection of a prosthesis, because the metallic click bothers patients and the complaints correlate with measured sound energy.