1. Home
  2. CCTV, Alarms and other Physical Security
  3. Smoke detectors for the elderly

Smoke detectors for the elderly

I was at an elderly friend's house the other day when the smoke alarm went off. It was quite loud and I reacted instantly to the noise. My friend, a former Army marksman in his 70's, who's suffering from profound high frequency hearing loss, heard nothing!!!

Then I started looking around for alarms that used lower frequency sounders but the only thing I could find were specially converted smoke detectors that cost $300!!!!

I'm wondering why COTS alarms operate at such a high sound frequency, especially when it's well known that older adults lose their high frequency hearing first. I have been thinking of just unsoldering the Sonalert sounders in low priced alarms and replacing them with lower frequency sounders, but that could compromise the detector's ability to sense smoke if the replacement sounder has sufficiently different electrical characteristics.

Does anyone know of a *reasonably* priced smoke detector whose sounder is audible to people with high frequency hearing loss? I'd like to buy a couple of such detectors for him, but the price on the only unit I've found would bring the bill to over $1200 for four detectors, and that's just unreasonable. I know what goes into making a smoke detector and 10x the cost of the parts still wouldn't bring the price that high.

The idea that smokes use sounders that can't be heard by a lot of elderly people seems pretty unreasonable to me as well.

Surely someone out there makes a smoke detector or combo smoke/CO detector (even better) that makes a sound people with typical hearing loss could hear a little better.

BTW, we can skip flashing light smoke detectors. BT, DT, GTS! He's got a phone ringer/flasher that he never hears or sees. The unit's flasher can't really be seen in daytime easily and the electronic ringer again uses a tone in the 5000Hz and above range and is inaudible to him. FWIW, based on some simple tests I did with CoolEdit, a PC program that allows you to create any audible tone, he can hear most stuff below 4000Hz. Yes he has a hearing aid but no, he does not sleep with it in.

Thanks in advance for your help.

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green
Loading thread data ...

Robert,

That issue has been addressed by the NFPA. See here:

formatting link
Maybe someone in ASA can get you a deal on some units.

Reply to
G. Morgan

In my previous home there were 110V smokes in each room they were interconnected and with 9V backup. They had very low-pitch buzzers -- definitely not piezos. I don't recall the make or model and I suspect they were pretty old. I replaced them with System Sensor detectors.

You've probably seen the outrageously overpriced detectors from "LoudnLow" -- a company that makes it's money by gouging hearing deficient victims. There's a company that makes a low-frequency sounder which responds to the high-pitch noise from conventional smokes. It's called Telex. Their product is also pricey but at least you won't be out $1200. I can't speak for the quality of their product as I haven't tried one. Here's a link:

formatting link
Hope that helps.

Reply to
Robert L Bass

I wouldn't call $159 per unit "gouging" for such a specialized product

formatting link

Reply to
mleuck

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.