November 2006
New smoke-alarm study
A standard alarm tone doesn’t always rouse children as well as a mother’s voice
A study published in the October 2006 issue of the journal Pediatrics found that 6- to 12-year-old kids were more likely to be roused from a deep sleep by the sound of their mother's voice than by a conventional smoke-alarm tone.
In fact, 23 of the 24 children who participated in the study were awakened by a recording of their mom saying "[First name! First name!] Wake up! Get out of bed! Leave the room!" compared with only 14 of the 24 kids who were roused when the alarm tone was used. The median time to awaken was 20 seconds with the voice alarm compared with 3 minutes with the tone alarm.
While the results are interesting, many questions remain. "We don't know exactly why it worked," says Gary A. Smith, M.D., one of the study's co-authors and director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio. "It could just be the sound of the mother's voice. But it could also be hearing one's first name or the loudness of the voice alarm, or a combination of these or other factors." One maker of voice alarms, SignalONE Safety, was quick to point to the study to bolster its claims about its KidSmart Vocal Smoke Alarm. But the authors of the study decline to endorse this or any other voice alarm, whose effectiveness has not been scientifically studied. (Consumers Union agrees with Dr. Smith that the current research is not sufficient to prove that a voice alarm is better. We believe more research is needed. Also, Consumer Reports has not tested the KidSmart and therefore cannot recommend its use.)
Still, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) seems more optimistic about the data and, after reviewing it, has revised the national fire-alarm code to allow for both tone and voice alarms.
Dr. Smith's group is applying for grant monies to fund further research and hopes to begin additional experiments within the next two years. He wonders whether the new research will ultimately lead to alarms that use a combination of tones and voice recordings to help wake and direct sleepers during an emergency.
If you need to replace your smoke or CO alarms, be sure to read "Which Smoke Alarm?" and "CO Alarms: Better Sensors" (both available to subscribers). Now that heating season is here and you're using your furnace, fireplace, and space heaters, it's especially important to have smoke alarms properly installed (available to subscribers) throughout your home.
Even if you have installed alarms in all the right places and they're working properly, you still need to plan for a fire emergency. (You'll find a free downloadable home-escape planner here.) The following tips from the NFPA are just the initial steps in fire preparedness, so visit the NFPA Web site for more in-depth fire-safety tips to help minimize your risks:
In fact, 23 of the 24 children who participated in the study were awakened by a recording of their mom saying "[First name! First name!] Wake up! Get out of bed! Leave the room!" compared with only 14 of the 24 kids who were roused when the alarm tone was used. The median time to awaken was 20 seconds with the voice alarm compared with 3 minutes with the tone alarm.
While the results are interesting, many questions remain. "We don't know exactly why it worked," says Gary A. Smith, M.D., one of the study's co-authors and director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio. "It could just be the sound of the mother's voice. But it could also be hearing one's first name or the loudness of the voice alarm, or a combination of these or other factors." One maker of voice alarms, SignalONE Safety, was quick to point to the study to bolster its claims about its KidSmart Vocal Smoke Alarm. But the authors of the study decline to endorse this or any other voice alarm, whose effectiveness has not been scientifically studied. (Consumers Union agrees with Dr. Smith that the current research is not sufficient to prove that a voice alarm is better. We believe more research is needed. Also, Consumer Reports has not tested the KidSmart and therefore cannot recommend its use.)
Still, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) seems more optimistic about the data and, after reviewing it, has revised the national fire-alarm code to allow for both tone and voice alarms.
Dr. Smith's group is applying for grant monies to fund further research and hopes to begin additional experiments within the next two years. He wonders whether the new research will ultimately lead to alarms that use a combination of tones and voice recordings to help wake and direct sleepers during an emergency.
If you need to replace your smoke or CO alarms, be sure to read "Which Smoke Alarm?" and "CO Alarms: Better Sensors" (both available to subscribers). Now that heating season is here and you're using your furnace, fireplace, and space heaters, it's especially important to have smoke alarms properly installed (available to subscribers) throughout your home.
Even if you have installed alarms in all the right places and they're working properly, you still need to plan for a fire emergency. (You'll find a free downloadable home-escape planner here.) The following tips from the NFPA are just the initial steps in fire preparedness, so visit the NFPA Web site for more in-depth fire-safety tips to help minimize your risks:
- Gather your family and walk through your house to inspect every conceivable exit and escape route. Ensure that those routes
are clear and that everyone can easily open doors and windows. If windows or doors are fitted with security bars, be sure
the bars have quick-release mechanisms on the inside so that you can open the bars quickly in an emergency.
- Designate a meeting place (a neighbor's house or your mailbox, for example) a safe distance from your home where everyone
can gather once they've escaped.
- Practice your escape plan every six months, and try to make the drill feel as real as possible.
