Smoke alarms aren’t known for their calming sounds, they generally emit high pitch beeping that probably ends up freaking you out. That’s not the best of things to do to a kid in an actual fire, you want him/her to be calm and get out of the house safely.
They did their research and found that that using a familiar voice is far better than that pesky and scary beeping sound. With that information they went out and built the SignalONE vocal smoke alarm.
You record a personalized message that wakes the person up and gives specialized escape instructions. When the alarm senses smoke, your message is replayed to your sleeping child which will calmly (relatively) wake them up. Your message will need to be brief though, as the SignalONE can only handle 15 seconds of instructions.
SignalONE didn’t stop their innovation their, also built in is a “fire drill” capability to give a test run for your child so they’re prepared for an actual emergency.
Two models of the SignalONE are available, one is battery powered and the other is hardwired with a battery backup. Battery wise, the two alarms require 4 AA batteries.
Parents with younger kids should consider putting a SignalONE in the child’s room or play area; it’ll probably make you feel a little safer, too. SignalONE’s are available at a variety of retailers including most hardware stores and even Amazon, which has it for $25.
Product Page [via Medgadget]