A report on the BBC this morning, followed research by Dundee University and Derbyshire Fire and Rescue that found that of 34 children tested, 27 repeated slept through smoke detector alarms.
Through associated testing, researchers are now wanting 500 families to test their new alarm, which combines a lower frequency alarm, combined with a human voice calling out, 'Wake up, the house is on fire!'. This has so far seemed to deliver the best response from both sleeeping boys and girls.
If you are a family with a child or children between the ages of 2 and 16 and would like to take part in the online study, Derbyshire Fire and Rescue have this page, where you can register you interest and be asked for more details to test your suitability.
The BBC report contains videos of some of the tests. According to a related BBC radio interview, it seems the research was born out of the tragedy of three house fires in Derbyshire, which claimed the lives of 12 children. This was reported on in 2014 by the Derby Telegraph, here.
Until this peice is updated, brief research this morning reveals there are already some smoke alarms avialble internationally, which may or may not be up to EU standards, claiming to offer lower tones, higher volumes and even voice based alarms. Although quality and reliability cannot be vouched for loudenlow.com, claims to offer smoke alarms for the hard of hearing that emit a loud low frequency, and to ship pinternationally from the USA. the UK's Action on Hearing Loss also appears to offer a 'smoke alarm transmitter', which is a smoke alrm that transmits to surrounding 'receivers', presummably either near to or worn by the the hard of hearing or deaf person. Note however, the product it is selling on its web page here, seems to be out of date.
This page will be updated if new relevant information comes in.
