Smoke alarms for kids

While smoke alarms are essential, their presence is no guarantee that everyone in your home will wake if the alarms sound at night. Children tend to sleep more deeply than adults, and concerns about their not waking to the sound of a standard alarm have led to studies about better ways to rouse them during an emergency.

Many children slept through tone alarms but awakened to the sound of their mother's pre-recorded voice, according to a 2006 study published in the journal Pediatrics about how 6- to 12-year-olds react to smoke alarms. Further research is necessary to determine why more children awoke to the voice command, according to the study's authors.

Several voice-command alarms are on the market, but it is not clear whether they offer the most effective way to awaken your children in a fire. Alarm maker SignalOne Safety was quick to point to the study to support its claims about its KidSmart Vocal Smoke Alarm. The study's authors decline to endorse that or any other voice alarm. The latest changes to the standard governing the construction of smoke alarms has limited any voice warning to less than 2 seconds, though those changes are not in effect yet.