Overview
Alerting/Signaling/Paging Devices
This category covers a broad range of products that alert Deaf, hard of hearing or late deafened individuals to sounds in their environment, such as doorbells, telephones, alarm clocks, kitchen timers, smoke detectors, a barking dog or a crying baby. The devices may use visual, amplified audible or tactile (vibrating) alerts or a combination of all three to alert the user to any of these sounds. Some devices are suitable for installation in multi-unit dwellings and will generally require the assistance of a qualified electrician - or the building's maintenance personnel where applicable - to install, while others are wireless and can be set up by most anyone without specific technical knowledge simply by plugging them in.
It is important to realize that there is no real one-size-fits-all solution. Different systems have different idiosyncrasies, and preferences vary from individual to individual. It is important that the system you select match your lifestyle. For example, if you live in your own home, love gardening and work in your backyard frequently, a system that features a tactile pager is a must. If, on the other hand, you live in an apartment building or are quite sedentary and frequently wear nothing but a bathrobe or a housecoat when you are at home, a tactile pager system may not make sense because it typically requires wearing it on a belt so it is close enough to your body for you to actually feel the alert. Carrying it in your pocket may render it relatively useless, in which case a visual alerting system is to be preferred.
Make sure that you are easily able to differentiate between the different triggers or alerts, since a system that is not clear to you will soon have you frustrated and ignoring it. Likewise, if you are considering a wireless system, you may want to be sure that it is user-adjustable so you can change the transmitting and receiving frequencies if there should be an excessive amount of interference with the factory settings given the very large number of consumer wireless devices in use today. If you live in an area with frequent power outages, you may also want to consider a system that offers at least some degree of battery back-up capability for tactile alerting. There is no system currently on the market that will activate a strobe or flash a light without electricity.
If you have any kind of seizure disorder, we very strongly recommend you do not purchase any system featuring strobe lights as the only alerting option, as these are known to trigger seizures in affected individuals.