Overview
Who This Document Is For and Where Alerting Systems May Be Needed
Alerting and signaling devices help people who are Deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or late-deafened know when important sounds or events are happening around them. For readability, this document uses “DHH” to refer collectively to Deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, and late-deafened individuals, while recognizing that people within these groups may have very different communication, hearing, vision, mobility, technology, and safety needs.
These devices may be needed in private homes, condominiums, rental apartments, public and senior housing, dormitories, residential facilities, shelters, workplaces, and other settings.
Depending on the setting, DHH individuals may be responsible for obtaining systems for their own homes or condominiums. In rental housing, workplaces, educational settings, residential programs, shelters, and other environments, a third party may be responsible for ensuring that DHH tenants, residents, employees, students, or participants have access to sound-based alerts in a way that is effective and equitable.
Core Principle: The Alert Must Work for the Person in the Real World
Alerting systems can notify a person about household, building, workplace, and safety-related events, including:
- Door and entry events: doorbells, door knocks, lobby buzzers, intercom calls, visitors, deliveries, and maintenance staff.
- Communication, household, and workplace events: telephones, videophones, smartphones, alarm clocks, timers, appliances, baby monitors, workplace alerts, reception alerts, and security alerts.
- Emergency alerts: smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, building fire alarms, evacuation alerts, active shooter alerts, environmental hazards, and other urgent emergency warnings.
What People May Need to Be Alerted To
Alerting systems can notify a person about household, building, workplace, and safety-related events, including:
- Door and entry events: doorbells, door knocks, lobby buzzers, intercom calls, visitors, deliveries, and maintenance staff.
- Communication, household, and workplace events: telephones, videophones, smartphones, alarm clocks, timers, appliances, baby monitors, workplace alerts, reception alerts, and security alerts.
- Emergency alerts: smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, building fire alarms, evacuation alerts, active shooter alerts, environmental hazards, and other urgent emergency warnings.
How Alerting Systems Notify the User
Alerting systems usually notify the user in one or more of three ways:
- Visual alerts, such as flashing lamps, strobe lights, icons, display screens, or other visual notifications.
- Tactile alerts, such as bed shakers, vibrating pagers, vibrating receivers, wristbands, or smartwatches.
- Audible alerts, such as louder, lower-pitched, or otherwise amplified sounds, when these are useful for the person.
Many people do best with a combination of visual and tactile alerts, especially for nighttime use, emergency situations, or when the person is deafblind.
Why Sound Alone Is Not Enough
Alerting systems should never rely on sound alone.
This is important not only for people who are Deaf or deafblind, but also for many people who are hard of hearing or late-deafened. A person may use hearing aids, cochlear implant processors, or other hearing technology during the day, but those are usually removed during sleep, bathing, and showering.
Hearing technology may also be removed for comfort, listening fatigue, charging needs, battery preservation, moisture concerns, ear irritation, or simply because the person does not feel the need to wear it when alone in what they may consider a safe space.
For this reason, housing providers, family members, employers, and support staff should not assume that a louder alarm, louder doorbell, louder phone, amplified buzzer, standard audible smoke alarm, workplace sound signal, or spoken announcement is enough.
A person’s choice to use hearing technology at any given moment should not affect a third party’s responsibility to provide required reasonable accommodations or effective access. Even when some DHH people prefer sound-based alerts, sound should not be the only alerting method available. People with typical hearing can also miss sound-based alerts.
Match the System to the Person, Routine, and Setting
There is no one-size-fits-all solution. The right system depends on the person, the setting, and the situations for which alerts are needed. A system that works well for one person may not work well for another person, even if both people have similar hearing levels.
- A person in a single-family home who spends time gardening, working in the yard, or doing outdoor projects may need a vibrating pager, wearable receiver, or other portable alert. Flashing lights inside the house may not help if the person is outside.
- A person in an apartment who spends most of their time indoors may do better with flashing lamps, a bed shaker, or visual receivers placed in the rooms they use most often.
- A person who is deafblind may need identifiable tactile alerts in all settings.
- A person who moves around the home frequently may need alerts in several rooms. A person who spends most of their time in one room may need a simpler setup.
- A person who lives alone may have different needs than someone who lives with family, roommates, or staff. Reliance on others is generally discouraged because it creates responsibilities and expectations that may not be met consistently and may fail at the critical moment.
A wearable tactile pager or receiver may help some people, but not everyone. It usually must be worn close enough to the body for the vibration to be felt. If it is left on a table, placed in a loose jacket pocket, or worn over thick clothing, the person may miss the alert.
The system should fit the person’s real-life realities, not just the sound being detected.
Alerts Must Be Clear, Distinguishable, and Actionable
A good alerting system should make it easy for the person to know what is happening. The user should be able to tell the difference quickly between different alerts, such as the door, phone, timer, baby monitor, emergency alert, or other trigger.
Systems may use different flash patterns, vibration patterns, icons, labels, color indicators, or display screens to show which event triggered the alert.
If every alert looks or feels the same, the system may become frustrating. The person may have to check everything each time the alert goes off. Over time, they may begin to ignore it.
This is also true of false alarms. If several DHH people live or function in close proximity, possibly in the same building, but require separate alerts, interference can be avoided by using systems that can be individually calibrated.
For landlords, housing authorities, property managers, and employers, it is not enough for a system to produce any alert. The alert must be understandable, distinguishable from other alerts, and immediately helpful to the person who needs it.
In the context of DHH individuals, any system that relies on audible instructions without corresponding visual communication is bound to fail.
Planning Checklist: Questions to Ask Before Choosing a System
Choosing an alerting system is not just a technology decision. It is a practical decision about the person, the environment, and the situations in which alerts are needed.
Before choosing a system, consider the following questions:
- Person: What does the person need to be alerted to? Are the alerts effective regardless of whether hearing aids or cochlear implants are being used at any given moment?
- Daily routine: Where does the person spend time? Do they need alerts while sleeping, cooking, showering, watching television, using a computer, moving around the home, working, or being outside?
- Housing setting: Is this a private home or condominium, apartment, senior or public housing unit, dormitory, group residence, shelter, or staffed setting?
- Workplace setting: Are there workplace alerts or notifications the employee needs access to, such as entry or exit alerts, phones, intercoms, public address announcements, equipment signals, emergency alerts, or customer call signals?
- Building systems: Are there doorbells, entry buzzers, intercoms, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, fire alarms, security systems, or workplace emergency systems that need to be connected or made accessible?
- Alert type: Does the person need visual alerts, tactile alerts, amplified sound, smartphone alerts, smartwatch alerts, text-based alerts, or a combination of these?
- Alert nature: Is the alert one-time, or does it involve repetitive or progressive alerting or communication, such as active shooter alerts or environmental hazards?
- Usability: Can the person easily understand what action to take with each incoming alert? Are they comfortable using smartphones, smartwatches, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and smart home devices? Can they follow instructions for complex setup and use? Are the instructions accessible to someone who is not fluent in written English?
- Maintenance: Who will install the system, test it, change and charge batteries, reset devices, update apps, or troubleshoot problems? What is the turnaround time? What will be in place in the interim, at least for emergencies?
The best technology is useless if the person it is for does not understand it or is not comfortable using it.
Installation: From Simple Devices to Building-Connected Systems
Simple Plug-In Devices
Some alerting devices are simple plug-in products. These may include alarm clocks with attached bed shakers, doorbell flashers, telephone signalers, or baby cry signalers. Many can be set up by the user, a family member, or an appropriate support person.
Wireless Systems That Use Transmitters and Receivers
Other systems are wireless. A transmitter detects a sound or signal and transmits to one or more receivers, which then activate visual alerts, tactile alerts, or an alert message or icon. These systems usually rely on self-generating RF systems and are independent of Wi-Fi, so IT support is generally not required.
Systems Connected to Doorbells, Intercoms, Alarms, or Workplace Infrastructure
Some systems connect to building infrastructure, such as doorbells, entry buzzers, intercoms, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, workplace safety systems, or other building systems. These installations may require a qualified electrician, alarm contractor, fire alarm company, information technology staff, facilities staff, or building maintenance staff because individual DHH persons do not usually have access to these infrastructures.
In apartments and multi-unit housing, tenants should generally not be expected to modify building wiring or building-owned equipment themselves. Landlords, housing authorities, condominium associations, or property managers may need to be involved.
In workplaces, employees should not be expected to solve access to workplace-owned systems entirely on their own. Employers may need to involve human resources, facilities, safety staff, information technology staff, outside contractors, and the employee to make sure the identified solution is effective for that person in that scenario.
Apartments and Multi-Unit Housing: Building-Owned Alerts and Resident Access
Alerting needs can be more complicated in apartment buildings and other shared housing because some important alerts may come from building-owned systems, not from devices inside the tenant’s unit.
For example, a Deaf or hard of hearing tenant may not know when someone is using the lobby buzzer, calling through an intercom, knocking at the apartment door, delivering a package, attempting maintenance access, or responding to an emergency. This can affect safety, privacy, access to visitors, emergency response, and daily independence.
Housing providers should not assume that standard audible systems are enough. If a tenant cannot hear or understand an alert, a visual, tactile, text-based, or other accessible alerting method may be needed.
If other tenants can communicate with visitors through an intercom system, similar functionality—not just visual alerting—needs to be provided for DHH residents. It is not reasonable to expect a DHH tenant to go to the building front entrance to identify or communicate with a visitor if no other tenant has to do so.
Emergency Alerts: Smoke, Carbon Monoxide, Fire, Evacuation, and Safety Warnings
Smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms are life-safety devices. They are not just convenience items.
Many hard of hearing and late-deafened people use hearing aids, cochlear implant processors, or other hearing technology during the day. However, as noted earlier, hearing technology is generally removed during sleep, bathing, and showering, and may also be removed at other times at home.
A standard audible smoke alarm may not wake a person who has just removed their hearing aid or cochlear implant processor in preparation for bedtime. It may also fail to alert a person whose hearing aids or cochlear implant processors are charging, turned off, or set to Bluetooth mode for music listening, which can block external sound sources.
Depending on the person and the setting, emergency alerting may require a bed shaker, flashing strobe, visual receiver, vibrating receiver, low-frequency audible alarm if useful, connection to the smoke or carbon monoxide alarm, and battery backup where available.
Visual and audible alerts alone may not wake someone who is asleep and will not work for some deafblind individuals. For that reason, tactile alerting, such as a bed shaker, is especially important at night.
Emergency alerting equipment should be properly approved, installed, tested, and maintained according to applicable codes and manufacturer instructions. Building owners, property managers, and employers should consult qualified professionals when connecting equipment to fire alarm, evacuation, or building systems.
Communication access, such as ASL interpreters, CART, or assistive listening devices, must be provided if building management, IT, or maintenance staff require access to the DHH person’s unit or workspace.
Power Outages and Battery Backup: Know What Still Works
Many alerting systems depend on electricity. Flashing lamps, strobe lights, and even tactile alerts generally will not work during a power outage unless they have their own backup power source.
Product language can be misleading because “battery backup” may refer only to sound alerts, not high-intensity strobe lights that would deplete batteries rapidly. Sound alerts are generally not well suited to DHH persons.
Some systems do offer battery backup for certain functions, especially tactile receivers or vibrating alerts. However, this varies by product and should be confirmed before purchase or use.
Power outage planning should be part of the same decision-making process described above. Users, families, housing providers, and employers should know which parts of the system continue working on battery power, how long the backup lasts, whether there is a low-battery warning, and who is responsible for testing or replacing batteries.
A system that is not maintained may fail when it is needed most.
Smartphones, Smartwatches, and Apps: Helpful Tools, Not Automatic Replacements
Newer technology is increasingly app-based. Smartphones can sometimes detect sounds such as doorbells, alarms, appliance beeps, running water, or a baby crying. The phone may then send a visual or vibrating alert to the user, including to a connected smartwatch or, through an alerting system receiver, to conventional wireless systems.
This technology is promising and may be very helpful for some people. A person who already wears a smartwatch every day may prefer alerts sent from a trigger to their smartphone and then to the watch. A person who is comfortable with apps may like the flexibility of using a phone-based sound recognition system.
However, wearable and app-based technology should not automatically be treated as a complete replacement for dedicated alerting equipment.
Smartphone and smartwatch-based alerting depends on many things working correctly at the same time. The phone must be nearby and charged. The smartwatch must be worn and charged. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, microphone access, app permissions, notification settings, and software updates can all affect reliability.
The user must also notice the alert and be comfortable using the technology. A smartwatch vibration may work well for one person but be too weak, too easy to miss, or too annoying for another person.
These systems may also be affected by background noise, distance from the sound, device settings, room layout, workplace layout, and whether the phone is in the right location to detect the sound.
For these reasons, wearable and app-based alerts may be a useful additional layer, but they may not be reliable enough as the only alerting method for critical safety needs such as smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, building emergency alerts, or workplace evacuation alerts.
This is especially important for landlords, housing authorities, property managers, and employers. A person’s smartphone or smartwatch should not be assumed to solve all access and safety needs. Not every person owns these devices, wants to use them, remembers to charge them, wears them consistently, or feels comfortable relying on them. These are individual choices and do not free a responsible third party from the obligation to provide effective tools.
Test Wireless Systems in the Actual Home, Building, or Workplace
Wireless systems should be tested in the actual home, apartment, or workplace where they will be used, under typical environmental conditions.
Range and reliability may be affected by walls, floors, elevators, concrete, metal framing, appliances, neighboring units, office layouts, industrial equipment, and other wireless devices. This can be especially true in apartment buildings in densely populated metropolitan areas, older buildings, senior housing, workplaces, and other multi-unit or multi-room settings.
If there is interference, some systems may allow channels, codes, or pairing settings to be changed to avoid interference and operate undisturbed. Systems with multiple user-selectable channels are often a safer bet than single-channel systems.
Testing should be practical, not theoretical, and should incorporate worst-case conditions rather than ideal conditions.
Strobe Lights and Seizure Risk: Use Safer Alternatives When Needed
Flashing lights and strobe lights can be very effective for many Deaf and hard of hearing people. However, they may not be safe for everyone.
People with seizure disorders, photosensitive epilepsy, or a history of seizures triggered by flashing lights should not rely on strobe lights as the only alerting method without medical guidance.
For some people, tactile alerts, vibrating bed shakers, vibrating receivers, or other non-strobe options may be safer.
Responsibilities and Practical Guidance by Audience
For Families and Support Persons
Families should begin by asking the Deaf or hard of hearing person what they need and what type of alert they are most likely to notice.
Do not assume that making something louder will solve the problem. Many people with hearing loss do not benefit from louder sound alone, especially when they are not wearing hearing technology.
A good starting point is to use the checklist above to think through the person’s daily routine, home environment, technology comfort level, and safety needs.
If a monitored home safety or medical response system is in use, families may need to communicate with the system provider to make sure it can trigger effective onsite alerts and establish bidirectional communication with the DHH person.
The most important question is whether the person can notice, understand, and respond effectively to the alert when it actually matters.
For Landlords, Housing Authorities, and Property Managers
Housing providers should treat alerting needs as access and safety issues. Both the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act describe necessary accommodations that need to be put in place for individuals with disabilities.
A request should not be dismissed simply because the tenant uses hearing aids, cochlear implants, a smartphone, or a smartwatch. Hearing technology is not worn at all times, and app-based alerts may not connect to building systems or be reliable enough for emergency use.
Housing providers should consider the tenant’s actual access to doorbells, entry buzzers, intercoms, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, fire alarms, emergency notifications, maintenance access, package delivery, and visitor notification. The checklist above can help identify where barriers may exist.
The main question should be whether the tenant has reliable, understandable, and equitable access to the alert, and can respond as others can.
For Employers
Employers should also treat alerting needs as access and safety issues. Deaf, hard of hearing, and late-deafened employees may not hear workplace sounds such as phones, doorbells, reception alerts, intercoms, public address announcements, equipment beeps, evacuation alarms, or emergency instructions.
A request should not be dismissed simply because an employee uses hearing aids, cochlear implants, or has a smartphone or a smartwatch. Hearing technology is not worn at all times, may not provide reliable access in every environment, and personal devices may not connect to workplace systems.
Emergencies are also high-stress situations with overlapping visual and audible distractions that can make understanding difficult or impossible. It is always better to clarify expectations and procedures ahead of time and practice a response so that when alerts happen the action is automatic.
Employers should consider whether the employee has reliable and understandable access to the alerts needed to perform their job safely and effectively. Depending on the workplace, this may require visual alerts, vibrating alerts, captioned or text-based notifications, accessible emergency procedures, or coordination with facilities, safety staff, human resources, or information technology staff.
The main question should be whether the employee can receive, understand, and respond to important workplace alerts when they occur. For someone who is deafblind or DHH with mobility concerns, wayfinding and guidance take on vital importance in emergencies.
17. Practical Bottom Line
Alerting and signaling devices can improve safety, independence, privacy, workplace access, and quality of life for people who are Deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or late-deafened.
A good alerting plan should consider the person’s hearing, vision, communication, mobility, and other possible needs; their daily routine; their housing, environmental, or workplace setting; building systems integration; potential power outages; comfort with technology; and which combination of alerts and alerting technology best suits the individual and scenario.
Wearable and app-based technology is improving and can be a helpful additional tool, but it remains dependent on the technology environment and the user’s comfort level. For critical alerts, especially emergency alerts, dedicated and properly installed alerting equipment may still be necessary.
The most important principle is to communicate first with the DHH person, in an accessible format, about what they need and how those needs can best be met.
MCDHH can help.