As we “fall back” to standard time from daylight savings time it is the time of year to test your smoke alarm and change the batteries. National Fire Prevention Month has just ended and many school children have just heard programs on fire safety so you might want to include the children in this activity. It is also a good time to check into new technology that is available.
Now joining the ranks of small appliances that talk to you are smoke alarms, although this voice is certain not to be a soothing or re-assuring one.
Talking smoke alarms are a necessity for children, according to research done by NBC news affiliates across the country. Traditional smoke alarms did not wake up sleeping children in several tests, but newly developed smoke alarms that allow parents to record their own voices did. According to KidSmartcorp.com, this is a function of the way the child’s brain recognizes sounds that are familiar to him or her.
The KidSmart Vocal Smoke Detector has a built-in voice recorder that allows a parent to record a message to the child like, “Johnny, wake up. This is a real fire. Get out now and do what we practiced.”
In early tests, the KidSmart Detector has been successful in waking up children immediately. Tests have been conducted or are currently underway at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the University of Georgia and the United States Naval Academy Fire Department.
The alarm was awarded Popular Science’s “Best of What’s New” award and “Best of Innovation” awards at the 2003 Consumer Electronics Show.
Visit www.kidsmartcorp.com for more info about this product.
Another innovation in smoke alarm technology is the combination talking smoke alarm/CO detector by First Alert.
When the alarm senses smoke or detects CO, the alarm speaks in a human voice to let residents know which hazard and room the hazard is located in. For example, it might say, “Smoke in the kitchen.” (It does not have a voice recorder.)
Important features include a remote control to shut off false alarms. This feature helps to eliminate the need to remove batteries from alarms that give off false alarms. The remote control also checks the batteries. A high percentage of fatalities due to fires happen in homes where the smoke alarms are missing batteries or have dead batteries. The alarm can be found in stores where First Alert products are sold.