Smoke detectors for the elderly - Page 5

> > I was at an elderly friend's house the other day when the smoke alarm

> > off. It was quite loud and I reacted instantly to the noise. My

> 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!!!!

> Can you not find an optical alarm, that indicates by blinking
> a strobe light on/off slowly (at whatever frequency is likeliest
> to catch the attention of deaf people)?
> --
> Don Phillipson

>light. Since posting my first question, I found an alarm that will suffice
>that's got a low-frequency horn that sounds a little like a truck backing
>up. Very audible.
>--
>Bobby G.

> I have the same problem with my amplified phone. It's a
> trimline, the volume control on the handset. The ringer is
> some high pitched chirp that I can't hear with my hearing
> aids out. I put a splitter, and an old mechanical Ma Bell
> phone, which I can hear sometimes.

>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.