Dundee University is looking for families to participate in a test of their new child centric
fire alarms
Orange County, CA - February 23rd 2017 - In 2015, firefighters responded to a fire once every 23 seconds in the United States. In total there were 1,345,500 fires reported causing the death of 3,280 civilians. While these numbers have significantly declined since 2005, something that hasn’t undergone revision is the smoke alarm. With a standard frequency of 3,000Hz it is a loud and jarring sound for adults, however there are instances where children remain unresponsive.
"Children's hearing ability, brain function, sleep patterns and stage of brain development is very different to adults,” said Rodney Mountain, a researcher from Dundee University’s School of Medicine. “Children are not born pre-programmed for our modern world of danger warning sounds from digital beeps and sirens. They have to learn, recognize and interpret these sounds.”In research performed by Dundee University and Derbyshire Fire and Rescue, 80% children tested repeatedly slept through home smoke alarms. The children, between the ages of two and 13, had no indication that the alarm would sound when they went to sleep. All 34 children in the study were tested a total of 6 times, of which 27 slept through every alarm. In this study boys proved to be more difficult to wake compared to girls, for none of the boys woke during any of the tests.
Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, though not originally involved, joined research efforts after Watch Manager Dave Cross witnessed a fire that claimed the lives of 6 young children. Their autopsies revealed they simply did not wake at the sound of the alarm.
To take action to protect the young victims of house fires the research team has developed an alarm with a lower pitch and female voice. The alarm, when triggered, emits a pitch of 520Hz and asserts the phrase, "Wake up, the house is on fire!" To test the new alarm, a family with four children was taken from the previous study. The results in the initial study revealed only one child had heard the alarm, but by implementing this new pitch all family members awoke in a timely fashion.
A new study is in the works to test the full potential of the device. The research team is looking for 500 families from the UK to participate, with children 2-16 years of age.
Researchers want to make it known that their research doesn’t discourage the use of standard smoke alarms. Regular checks of their performance are essential and an alarm should be installed on each floor of a home to ensure safety regularly.
