Table 4.

Patient's complete open-ended responses

	Q6a	Q6b	Q7	Q8
Mask	Leak	How did it affect you	Any suggestions	Any other thoughts
Old	Into my eyes and around the sides of my mouth	Made noise and was distracting. Made it difficult to get to sleep. When I woke up, the bottom of the mask had shifted and was in my mouth	Better and easier latch system	—
0	All around my mouth	Seal ok at first but as the machine ramped up, the leaks became too loud and extreme to continue	—	—
1	In the eyes	Seal ok while I slept, but when I woke up and moved my mouth because it was dry, the leaks in the upper part of the mask exploded	—	—
2	Around my mouth	Ok falling asleep and while I slept, but when I woke up I needed to shift position. When I lifted my head off the pillow, the leak blew up.	—	I didn't try to adjust and continue with the mask because these were worknights. Next weekend when I am in the middle of my 7-day, I will work with it longer.
3	Sides of my mouth	Upon waking, I was not able to adjust the mask to remove the leak quickly. I was too tired at that point to work with it further.	—	I'm noticing that these masks are unforgiving of any change of position of the head or movement of the mouth. I'll work with one longer next week.
4	Into my eyes	—	—	—
5	Into my eyes, primarily the left	Like the previous masks, this leaked at the slightest shift or movement. However, when this one [sprang], it was just leaks, not explosions. Still distracting and waking, but not jolting.	—	In this set-up the straps were not a problem for me. I am able to put the mask on myself with no trouble. Also, the top of the mask dug into the bridge of my nose as the time went on. By the time I took the mask off, it was starting to get quite painful. When I loosened the strap to relieve the pressure, the leaks got worse.
6	The right side of my mouth, causing some whistling	The leak was less pronounced than 1 and easier to manage	—	Toward the end of the time the mask started digging into my right side. Not painful but distracting and uncomfortable. I was not able to shift or adjust the mask to relieve it.
7	Around my mouth	Distraction, but I still fell asleep after a while. I fought with the strap a few times to minimize the noise.	—	The mask was starting to dig in around my mouth when I woke up. That's not what woke me up, but it would've gotten uncomfortable if I had tried to keep it on longer.
8	—	—	—	This was the easiest of any mask I've tried. I didn't have to readjust the straps on the position once I put it on.
9	The bridge of my noise and middle of my forehead	I've never had a mask leak in the center before and it has always been in the eyes	—	Disappointing after eight went so easily
10	Everywhere, but mostly in my right eye	It didn't last long with this one. I never got to sleep with it on. Michelle and I both worked the straps for 1/2 h without affecting the leaks. After having the mask on and off four times, I finally gave up.
1 (after seven-nights)	Moved between my eyes and my mouth, but was markedly less than the other masks	I still wake up after a couple of hours each night. I was too tired to re-adjust. The leaks were much less effusive than the other masks.	I love the hook and latch on these. Very easy to hook and unhook	I'm sorry I was not able to do seven nights in a row and I was not able to do a weekend night to stay with it longer. But the mask is very comfortable, and I am more optimistic about this than any other that I've tried.
8 (after seven-nights)	In the eyes and sides of my mouth	—	—	Very disappointed after this was so comfortable in the one-night trial. I got rapidly decreasing returns as the seven-nights went on. The night of the 7/21, it kept exploding on me and at least twice I woke up with the bottom of the mask in my mouth. Michelle said when she walked in, it sounded like gale-force winds. The night of 7/27 I couldn't find a position to stop the leaks so I didn't last long with it. I don't think I every actually fell asleep with it.