Emergency Situations

M

MBASTUDENT

New Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2013
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all doing well today. I am a MBA student in Boston and am conducting research on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. I am starting this thread in the hope of collecting information anyone would be willing share regarding an experience you may have had during an emergency situation, and more specifically if the alarms adequately brought your attention to the events (such as a fire alarm, or tornado sirens). I am gathering data so that I may try to identify some user needs and shortcomings of current emergency notification systems. Any stories or ideas that you share would be very much appreciated.

I wish you a pleasant day!
 
No, I can't hear a tornado siren. I get direct texts to my phone to warn me of severe weather events.

It is very efficient.
 
Bottesini said:
No, I can't hear a tornado siren. I get direct texts to my phone to warn me of severe weather events.

It is very efficient.
Click to expand...

I sign up for 911 reverse calls for severe weather events. I can't hear the sirens when I am in my home. I do not have a cell phone.
 
The direct text is a very interesting and seemingly effective service. What if an emergency situation takes place at night, while you are asleep, is there a way for the direct text to alert you if the phone is on the nightstand?

I am making an assumption that when you recieve a text the phone is on your person, and you feel it vibrate and then you check it. Is this assumption correct?
 
MBASTUDENT said:
The direct text is a very interesting and seemingly effective service. What if an emergency situation takes place at night, while you are asleep, is there a way for the direct text to alert you if the phone is on the nightstand?

I am making an assumption that when you recieve a text the phone is on your person, and you feel it vibrate and then you check it. Is this assumption correct?
Click to expand...

Yes, but my led lights also flash.
 
MBASTUDENT said:
Great, this information has been very helpful. So the LED lights would be strong enough for you to wake up and check your phone?
Click to expand...

Not certain... At this point, I just take my chances of a tornado in the night. :P

I have home alarms that will alert me in the event of fire.
 
Bottesini said:
Not certain... At this point, I just take my chances of a tornado in the night. :P

I have home alarms that will alert me in the event of fire.
Click to expand...

I would think your alarms has flashing lights , I can't hear an alarm go off if I am sleeping. I guess you much have one in your bedroom too.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
Where did you buy them?
Click to expand...

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/First-Alert-SL177-Hearing-Impaired/dp/B001U0ONAW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382398323&sr=8-1&keywords=hearing+impaired+smoke+alarms]First Alert/BRK Brands SL177 Hearing Impaired Strobe Light - Amazon.com[/ame]
 
If something like that happens in the night, I'll just die. I don't wake up to flashing lights, nor do I wae up to the amount of vibration a cell phone has. It has to be vibrating constantly for a long time before it rouses me from sleep, over 5 minutes, closer to 10. It just isn't strong enough. I actually don't have an alarm clock anymore because I need the super duper bed shaker one. It scares the living shit out of my husband every time it goes off and he thinks he's back on deployment and some bad shit just happened (just from training, he's been deployed but worked remotely, not in the actual war zones). When we first got together my husband said he'd rather always wake up early to wake me up when I have to be awake when he's asleep, and for 10+ years he has done that happily instead of dealing with what would cause an early death for him by giving him a heart attack from fear ;-)

So, shaking things in my bed (well, *certain* shaking things ;-) ) is just bad juju, either too strong or not enough to work. I've never woken up to flashing lights and I only notice them if it's dark and a light flashes, and obviously only if I'm awake.

I don't keep my cell phone on my person 99.9% of the time, so I'm stuck with the TV for emergency stuff. If the weather is bad, I do keep the TV on all the time so I can catch the alert, but I can miss it if I'm not actively looking at the TV in time. In college and grad school people had to physically find me and get me when the fire alarms went off because I just didn't notice them unless I was in a hallway where they were, when they went off. In a classroom or my lab, with my back to the door? Forget it.

I came to terms with dying in an emergency a long time ago. Just like when I get old, I'll die in a shithole somewhere because I can't survive alone once my husband dies and our income is gone.
 
I wake up to the flashing lights. Though I always thought it would be interesting if there was a connector for my phone to plug into my vibrating alarm clock. That way, when I got the alerts and stuff at night, I would feel it and wake up. Though, I live in Tampa Florida and we don't really see tornado's thankfully..... Hurricanes are a rare event as well ( even though everyone and their mom seems to think we get hit by them all the time, we don't! ) If course this adapter would probably end up pi**ing me off anyway, as it probably wouldn't discriminate and I'd wake up to texts and everything else under the sun! :roll:
 
Mewtilation said:
I wake up to the flashing lights. Though I always thought it would be interesting if there was a connector for my phone to plug into my vibrating alarm clock. That way, when I got the alerts and stuff at night, I would feel it and wake up. Though, I live in Tampa Florida and we don't really see tornado's thankfully..... Hurricanes are a rare event as well ( even though everyone and their mom seems to think we get hit by them all the time, we don't! ) If course this adapter would probably end up pi**ing me off anyway, as it probably wouldn't discriminate and I'd wake up to texts and everything else under the sun! :roll:
Click to expand...

Presumably, the system would be good for things like Cuban missiles, mutated rabid manatees that walk, and "you've got a sinkhole forming next door, wake up before a maddened megatherium unleashed from the center of the earth decides to have a taste for blood and not leaves and wants to eat your warm juicy flesh."
 
Eater of Worlds said:
Presumably, the system would be good for things like Cuban missiles, mutated rabid manatees that walk, and "you've got a sinkhole forming next door, wake up before a maddened megatherium unleashed from the center of the earth decides to have a taste for blood and not leaves and wants to eat your warm juicy flesh."
Click to expand...

:laugh2: Oh yes, the well anticipated Zombie apocalypse warning. That would be nice to be alerted to! I wouldn't expect such a terrible thing would happen mid day while I was washing dishes! Just not my luck....

zombie_apocalypse_fightback_review.jpg
 
Update

Hi Everyone - Thank you so much for your input - we have used it to assess needs that we hope we can use to identify some possible solutions. I am going to list a few of them here (some of them are far-fetched and would likely never be developed) with the hope that you will identify what you like or don't like and why. We will then likely fuse the best attributes of each one to come up with a final product proposal!

Thanks from Boston!

1.
Cell Phone app
- we will design an application for a smartphone that will link
to an individual's home detectors (ie. smoke detector, carbon monoxide
detector, home security system, sprinklers, etc) and would emit a bright
strobe light, loud piercing sound and strong vibration to wake up a person
who is hard of hearing in the middle of night in the event of a home
emergency. The app would also be linked to the National Weather Agency and
other governmental agencies that would send out weather and national
security alerts to the app as well.


2.
Bracelet Alert -
a device that would be worn on the wrist at all times by users,
day and night, that would emit a strong vibration to the user during an
emergency situation after receiving signal alert from an outside source.
Would also have the capability of a two-way communicator so the user could
relay messages for help in an emergency if needed.


3.
Hearing Ear Dogs
dogs that would be specifically trained to wake up a
person who is hard of hearing while they are sleeping should there be an
emergency in their home. The dog could also travel with the individual when
they are away from the home, for example in a hotel for a conference or
away on vacation.


4.
Personal Home Alerts
a larger concept that includes home alert systems like
a bed shaker, pillow vibrator, strobe light alerter, bed sprinkler system or
odor alerter, which would be activated during a home emergency to wake up
a person who is hard of hearing. They would be tied directly to the homes'
fire alarm system, smoke detector, carbon monoxide detectors, burglary
alarm, sprinkler system, etc.


5.
Scrolling messaging
Marquee or other banner signage in all public locations
that would scroll important emergency information 24/7 for all users to stay
up to date on events that are going on around them. Scrolling information
would be live open captioning of emergency information.


 
Several of them already exist. If you can get around the patent issue, the app would be nice, since the ones that exist are somewhat expensive.
 
MBASTUDENT said:
Hi Everyone - Thank you so much for your input - we have used it to assess needs that we hope we can use to identify some possible solutions. I am going to list a few of them here (some of them are far-fetched and would likely never be developed) with the hope that you will identify what you like or don't like and why. We will then likely fuse the best attributes of each one to come up with a final product proposal!

Thanks from Boston!

1.
Cell Phone app
- we will design an application for a smartphone that will link
to an individual's home detectors (ie. smoke detector, carbon monoxide
detector, home security system, sprinklers, etc) and would emit a bright
strobe light, loud piercing sound and strong vibration to wake up a person
who is hard of hearing in the middle of night in the event of a home
emergency. The app would also be linked to the National Weather Agency and
other governmental agencies that would send out weather and national
security alerts to the app as well.


2.
Bracelet Alert -
a device that would be worn on the wrist at all times by users,
day and night, that would emit a strong vibration to the user during an
emergency situation after receiving signal alert from an outside source.
Would also have the capability of a two-way communicator so the user could
relay messages for help in an emergency if needed.


3.
Hearing Ear Dogs
dogs that would be specifically trained to wake up a
person who is hard of hearing while they are sleeping should there be an
emergency in their home. The dog could also travel with the individual when
they are away from the home, for example in a hotel for a conference or
away on vacation.


4.
Personal Home Alerts
a larger concept that includes home alert systems like
a bed shaker, pillow vibrator, strobe light alerter, bed sprinkler system or
odor alerter, which would be activated during a home emergency to wake up
a person who is hard of hearing. They would be tied directly to the homes'
fire alarm system, smoke detector, carbon monoxide detectors, burglary
alarm, sprinkler system, etc.


5.
Scrolling messaging
Marquee or other banner signage in all public locations
that would scroll important emergency information 24/7 for all users to stay
up to date on events that are going on around them. Scrolling information
would be live open captioning of emergency information.


Click to expand...
One and two are the best in my opinion. Things I would actually use.
 
Back
Top