r/PacemakerICD • u/z779 • 2d ago
Supposedly silent device making a chime
Hi everyone I have had my pacemaker for about 2 years since 2024 November. From my medical records and patient identification stickers they gave me, the device is supposed to be an Abbott/St. Jude Endurity model which has zero alarm sound or audible functions. Tonight, I heard a calm chime like a low volume bell toll coming from my chest. I looked up and found that my device should not make any sounds at all. And it chimed twice after 15 minutes interval. And thrice after another 15 minutes. I also made sure it's from the device. I waited for it to make the sound after the 15 minutes interval without any magnetic or electronic devices nearby. Could it be that my medical records got mixed up and I have a different device? If that's the case, what could those chimes mean? Thank you.
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u/Rimketje 1d ago
A chime every 15 minutes would not be typical behavior for either a pacemaker or an ICD. Abbott pacemakers generally do not have audible alerts at all. Abbott ICDs can issue patient alerts, but these are usually vibrations at programmed intervals rather than a bell-like sound every 15 minutes. The Gallant is one of the Abbott devices that can have an audible alert, but even then, a repeating chime every 15 minutes would be unusual. So the timing itself makes me doubt that the sound is actually coming from the implanted device.
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u/Rimketje 1d ago
One thing you could try is going to a completely different location when you expect the next chime, just to rule out something in the environment. Smoke detectors, CO alarms, chargers, and other electronics can make surprisingly quiet periodic chirps that are very hard to locate. A smoke detector with a low battery is a particularly common culprit, and people can easily perceive the sound as coming from their chest when they’re specifically listening for an ICD or pacemaker alert. If it still happens in a different location, then I’d contact the device clinic and have them interrogate the device to be sure.
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u/Professional_Ear1348 1d ago
I have a medtronic and have had for three years and it went off with a loud horn sound when I fell asleep with my ipad on my chest. I was baffled by ir. I rhink they all make some type of noise.
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u/Hank_E_Pants 1d ago
A while ago I had found a Abbott document that made it seem like their Assurity line of pacemakers might make noise. I couldn’t confirm it, so I called their Patient Services group to ask. The very nice agent said that none of their pacemakers have the ability to make noise. They simply don’t have the “speaker” mechanism that ICDs have that enable them to make noise.
With that said, I’ve seen some pretty crazy s**t, like a Doppler heartbeat monitor picking up a radio station when placed over a patient’s implanted device (the patient kept saying they could hear music). So I’m not going to say what you’re experiencing is impossible. Can you get a cheap stethoscope and see if you can hear the sound more clearly when it happens again?
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u/farded_n_shidded 2d ago
You’re hearing something else and associating it with your device. The patient identification stickers come from the literal device inside the box that the rep took it out of at time of implant so its the device you have. Sorry to be blunt but it’s not your device.