Fire Alarm Uses Parent's Voice to Wake Children

Ed Yeates ReportingThe American Academy of Pediatrics say children who hear their parent's voice from a smoke or fire alarm wake up, even though they're in a deep sleep.

The new study says even kids who normally sleep through a loud conventional siren or tone, wake up.

Terri Angerbauer tries out a new smoke alarm that does more than just screech, it also uses her own voice to alert the children. The first step - record what you want to say to kids who occupy a certain bedroom.

"Nolan, Carson, you've got to get up. You've got to follow the family emergency plan and get out of the house now. Get out of the house now."

With her own voice now programmed, the alarms sit in wait, ready to activate.

The American Academy of Pediatrics actually attempted to wake 24 children from stage four deep sleep with two different loud smoke alarms. Twenty three of the twenty four children awoke to the parent voice alarm while just fourteen awoke to the standard alarm.

While Terri and her family haven't tried the alarms for real, she believes the personalized voice might work.

Terri Angerbauer, Mom: "I remember my baby laying under a fire alarm, a smoke detector when it went off, and I thought he was deaf because he slept through the whole thing."

Ethan Angerbauer: "You recognize your parent's voice and it kind of wakes you up when you hear it."

For her oldest boy, seven-year-old Ethan, the sound of a parent's voice - even though recorded in an alarm - has an impact.

Ethan Angerbauer: "When your parents ask you to do something, you should do it because it you don't, bad things will happen."

The parent voice alarm is not the only new innovation. Another alarm actually uses a laser beam in a smoke filled house to point the way to the nearest exit door.

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