Vocal Smoke Detector Wakes Children In Emergencies

Children do not reliably wake up to traditional smoke alarms but do consistently wake up to a familiar voice, studies say. Now there is a new option when it comes to fire safety; a smoke detector that wakes children up with a message recorded by their parents.

The issue of children sleeping through fire alarms has received a great deal of attention over the past few years as numerous media outlets have shown examples on television. TV station WHDH tested children of Quincy, Massachusetts firefighters earlier this year and found that all five slept through blaring fire alarms, but all responded to the voice alarm.

"We haven't found a case to date where it hasn't worked," said KidSmart Corporation president Matt Ferris, of the patented Vocal Smoke Detector.

Ferris said they realized the need for such an alarm after official research came out from the Victoria University Sleep Lab in Melbourne, Australia, which found that only 57 percent of children woke up to a traditional smoke alarm signal while all woke up to a recording of their mother's voice. The research also found that the children who did wake to the traditional alarm took longer to respond than those aroused with a familiar voice alarm.

National Fire Protection Association President and CEO James Shannon wrote an article for Firehouse.com in late 2002 in response to the studies and media coverage on children sleeping through alarms, saying, "This dramatic footage has raised good questions among firefighters, fire safety experts, and others. But it may be causing some parents concern about the wrong thing." He warned that families should not forgo smoke alarms and said NFPA statistics show that home smoke alarms are nearly as effective at saving the lives of children age six to ten as they are in saving the lives of everyone else, although it may often be that the parents are waking their children, not the alarms.

However, "It is clear that most of the time smoke alarms do precisely what they are designed to do: alert occupants to fire," Shannon wrote. The NFPA recommends that families run fire drills, and if they find that any family member cannot awake to the smoke alarm, their escape plan should be adjusted accordingly.

The Vocal Smoke Detector provides a new option for families to do so. It is not endorsed by the fire service and is still under UL testing, but will soon be available online and in stores. The National SAFE KIDS Campaign did not have any comment on the Vocal Smoke Detector at this time.

Ferris said that for years, the goal with smoke detectors was to make them as inexpensive as possible while still functional. He said his device adds features in hopes of being even more effective.

The battery-operated smoke detector includes a speaker system for parents to record a wake-up message and brief instructions for their child. It also has a directional alarm which allows parents to aim the high output speaker directly at their child's sleeping area, and it has an innovative fire drill feature so that parents can set the alarm and leave the room. When the alarm sounds, the parent's voice message alternates with a traditional fire alarm sound.

Ferris said the alarm is useful for all ages because it gives directions, but it is especially recommended for children ages zero to 14. Even if a child is too young to escape, or is confused by the alarm, he said, "If you weigh that versus the child not waking at all, I don't think you're going to find any firefighter out there who says they wouldn't rather have the child be awake and trying to escape, rather than sleeping right through the fire."

"Every fireman we've talked with said if it can wake them up, at least they're screaming in their bed, and there's a lot better chance we can find them than if they're sleeping right through it," Ferris said.

Prototypes of the device are being used in homes but have never been involved in a real fire situation. They will be available in the fall at kidsmartcorp.com and at Radio Shack.

Ferris said KidSmart also plans to distribute a few thousand of the Vocal Smoke Detectors to the fire safety community. If interested in learning more, fire departments can email [email protected].

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