Alerting Devices: Smoke Alarms, Bed Shakers and Signalers
A standard smoke alarm will not wake many people with hearing loss. Strobe and bed-shaker alarms, doorbell and phone signalers, and weather radios with visual alerts fill that gap. Here is what to get, what fire safety experts recommend, and which of these devices Floridians can get free.
Smoke alarms for deaf and hard of hearing people
Ordinary smoke alarms sound a high-pitched beep around 3,000 Hz, exactly the range most people with hearing loss cannot hear, and you take your hearing aids out to sleep. Fire safety guidance for people who are deaf or hard of hearing therefore adds two things a beeping alarm cannot provide: a strobe light you can see and a shaker you can feel, and for people with partial hearing, a much lower-pitched sound.
What the fire safety guidance says
- Strobe lights flash when the smoke alarm sounds and warn people who are awake of a possible fire.
- For people who are deaf, a pillow or bed shaker connected to the alarm can wake them so they can escape.
- For people who are hard of hearing, an alert device that uses a loud, mixed, low-pitched sound can wake them; a 520 Hz square-wave tone is the signal fire codes specify for sleeping areas.
- Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home, and interconnect them so that if one sounds, they all sound.
- Test every alarm at least once a month with the test button, and replace the whole unit at the age the manufacturer states, typically ten years.
What to buy
- Strobe smoke alarms and combination smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms with a built-in strobe, wired or battery, for hallways and living areas.
- A bedside alerting unit that listens for your existing alarms and fires a strobe, a bed shaker under the mattress or pillow, and a low-frequency tone. This is the most flexible option because it works with the alarms already in your home.
- Interconnected wireless alarms, so a strobe in the bedroom fires when the kitchen alarm senses smoke.
Sources: NFPA: smoke and CO alarms for people who are deaf or hard of hearing (tip sheet) · NFPA video: smoke alarm technologies for people who are deaf or hard of hearing
How does a bed shaker alarm work?
A bed shaker is a small, flat vibrating disc on a cord. You slide it under your pillow or between the mattress and the box spring, and plug the cord into a bedside receiver. When the receiver gets a signal, from a smoke alarm, an alarm clock, a doorbell transmitter or a phone signaler, the disc vibrates hard enough to wake a sound sleeper. Most units also flash a lamp or strobe and can sound a loud tone for people with some hearing.
Bed shakers come in three forms: built into an alarm clock for waking up, built into a bedside smoke alarm receiver for fire safety, and as a general receiver in a home signaling system that responds to several transmitters. If you buy one system, choose the general receiver so a single shaker handles fire, door, phone and baby alerts.
Doorbell, phone and baby cry signalers
- Doorbell signalers. A transmitter at the door button or a sensor on your existing chime sends a signal to flashing receivers around the house. Video doorbells with a phone app do the same job if you keep the phone on you.
- Phone signalers. Plug into the phone line or sit near a cell phone and flash a bright light or trigger the bed shaker when a call or text comes in. This is the category FTRI provides free in Florida.
- Baby cry alerts. A sound-activated transmitter in the nursery triggers a flashing receiver, a vibrating pager or the bed shaker so a parent with hearing loss knows the baby is crying.
- Alarm clocks. Vibrating clocks with a bed shaker, and clocks with a bright flashing light, are the simplest and cheapest alerting device most people start with.
- Smartphone alerts. Set your phone to flash the camera light and vibrate for calls, texts and Wireless Emergency Alerts; on many phones, sound recognition can also detect a smoke alarm, doorbell or crying baby and notify you.
Weather alert radios and hurricane season
In Florida a tornado warning at 3 a.m. or a flash flood alert during a hurricane is as dangerous as a fire. NOAA Weather Radio receivers with an alert output can trigger a strobe light and a bed shaker when the National Weather Service issues a warning for your county. Look for a radio with an external alert jack and pair it with the same bedside receiver you use for smoke alarms.
Keep Wireless Emergency Alerts turned on with vibration and flash, sign up for your county's text alerts, and keep a charged battery pack for the receiver and your hearing aids. Our emergency preparedness page has a full checklist for Floridians with hearing loss, including the Special Needs Registry.
Hurricane and emergency preparedness for Floridians with hearing loss
Free alerting devices for the deaf and hard of hearing in Florida
FTRI: free phone signalers
Florida Telecommunications Relay, Inc. (FTRI) provides telephone-related equipment at no cost to Florida residents with a certified hearing loss. Its alerting category covers audible and visual signalers that flash or sound when a call comes in, including a plug-in phone signaler and visual ringers. FTRI's program is limited to telephone equipment, so it does not supply smoke alarms, bed shakers or doorbell signalers; ask your regional distribution center what is currently offered.
Fire departments and community programs
Several Florida fire rescue departments install free specialized smoke alarms for residents who are deaf or hard of hearing, while supplies last. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue offers free hard-of-hearing smoke alarms with installation to qualified residents of unincorporated Miami-Dade County, and Hillsborough County Fire Rescue offers special alarms for deaf and hard of hearing residents of the unincorporated county through its free smoke alarm program. Other counties and cities run similar programs, sometimes with the American Red Cross, and some Lions clubs and service organizations help with the cost of alerting equipment. Call your local fire department's non-emergency line or public education office and ask.
Sources: FTRI: equipment and solutions · Miami-Dade Fire Rescue: free hard-of-hearing smoke alarms · Hillsborough County: request a free smoke alarm · Captioned telephones and free phones from FTRI
Alerting device questions
Does Florida give free smoke alarms to deaf residents?
Some Florida counties do. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and Hillsborough County Fire Rescue install free specialized smoke alarms for deaf and hard of hearing residents in their unincorporated areas while supplies last, and other departments run similar programs, often with the Red Cross. There is no single statewide program: FTRI's free equipment covers phone signalers, not smoke alarms. Call your local fire department and ask.
How does a bed shaker alarm work?
A flat vibrating disc goes under your pillow or mattress and plugs into a bedside receiver. When the receiver gets a signal from a smoke alarm, alarm clock, doorbell transmitter or phone signaler, the disc vibrates strongly enough to wake you, and most units flash a light and can sound a loud low-pitched tone as well. One receiver can serve several transmitters, so a single shaker covers fire, door, phone and baby alerts.
What kind of smoke alarm is best for hearing loss?
For people who are deaf, an alarm with a strobe light plus a bed shaker for sleeping hours. For people who are hard of hearing, add a low-frequency 520 Hz tone, which wakes far more people with hearing loss than the standard high-pitched beep. Install alarms in every bedroom, outside sleeping areas and on every level, interconnect them, test monthly and replace units at the manufacturer's stated age.
Will my hearing aids wake me if the smoke alarm goes off?
No. You take hearing aids out to sleep, and even during the day a standard alarm's high pitch is in the range many people with hearing loss cannot hear. Rely on a strobe and a bed shaker at night. During the day, your phone's sound recognition feature can detect a smoke alarm and vibrate or flash, but it is a backup, not a replacement for a proper alerting system.
Get ready before the next storm
HLAA-FL chapters host FTRI and emergency management presentations across Florida. Ask your chapter when the next one is.