![asa has red alarm light asa has red alarm light](https://www.apexshop.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/whelen-or-360.jpg)
Recent advances in the domain of smart devices further justifies the need for more research in the field of alternative alarm technologies for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. In addition, novel alarm technologies may not be standardized, thus potentially having on the market devices with heterogenous features. This issue occurs despite the critical role these devices may play in life safety for people with hearing loss. In other words, several technologies available have not been scrutinized systematically. Nevertheless, several alternative technologies are available on the market and their suitability, reliability, potential applications and uses is still under investigation.
![asa has red alarm light asa has red alarm light](https://eurosystem-peru.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/firewallASA5508-300x300-1.jpg)
For people who are hard of hearing, low-frequency alarms has also been shown to be effective. This mainly includes devices offering tactile stimulus, such as bed shakers and pillow shakers. For this reason, people with significant hearing loss may opt for using alternative devices offering other types of stimuli. However, evidence suggests that visible signals are ineffective in alerting people who are deaf or hard of hearing when asleep, 17, 14, 18]. One of the most popular alarm technologies for this purpose has been the use of visible signals, as mandated by NFPA 101 (National Fire Protection Association, ). īased on these premises, it is necessary to explore which types of technologies are needed to wake sleeping people who are deaf or hard of hearing in case of emergency.
![asa has red alarm light asa has red alarm light](https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/600x400/650xi_c5e0551d96dd2365c2b14c2710da966187b8d1ed.jpg)
This effect is further enhanced when people are asleep. An important deficit of commonly used audible alarms is its inability to warn people who are deaf and to some extent also people who are hard of hearing. As the population is ageing (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, ), the prevalence of hearing loss is likely to increase. Hearing loss is also more prevalent in older age, and age related hearing loss (presbycusis) is estimated to affect approximately two thirds of Americans over the age of 70, making it one of the most prevalent functional limitations among the elderly. Ĭonsidering for example the US population, approximately 1% of people over the age of twelve experience hearing loss classified as severe (> 60 through 80 dBA) or profound (> 80 dBA), and more than 14% of the US population over the age of twelve experience hearing loss to some degree. The warning mechanism typically consists of an audio signal of high frequency. The alarm devices typically consists of two mechanisms the detection mechanism that detects signs from the fire (typically smoke, heat or light ) and the warning mechanisms which warns the occupants of the imminent threat. In this context, fire alarms is one of the most important and affordable fire safety solutions adopted in buildings. This issue becomes particularly challenging in case of sleeping people since in the early stages of a fire, people take action upon interpreting fire cues. This leads to the need for reliable ways to both detect the fire as well as alert people exposed to such threat. In fact, the time needed by occupants before a purposive movement towards safety (often called pre-evacuation or pre-movement time ) can have a strong impact on safety, especially in buildings with a relatively small occupant load. While some technologies have been identified in the literature as potentially effective, the survey responses indicate that people who are deaf or hard of hearing do not necessarily use them.įire alarms play a key role during a fire emergency as they allow to timely act upon a fire threat. In addition, this paper presents the responses of 36 people who were deaf or hard of hearing participating to a survey in which their experiences and preferences in relation to fire alarm technologies were investigated. This highlighted that a new standard for alarm technologies incorporating tactile signals might be needed. The main codes and standards relevant to these technologies have also been screened. The results show that low-frequency alarms, bed shakers and/or pillow shakers seem to be the most reliable existing technologies for this group of people. To address this issue, the scientific literature concerning alternative alarm technologies has been reviewed to evaluate their effectiveness in awakening people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Traditional fire alarms emit a high-frequency sound to alert the occupants of an imminent threat, which may be less appropriate for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.