The design of evacuation alarms for people who are deaf or hard of hearing
(2023) VBRM05 20231Division of Fire Safety Engineering
- Abstract
- The ability to hear is essential for receiving auditory signals, which serve as warnings and alerts in many situations, including fire evacuation. However, people with hearing impairments may miss out such signals and can be exposed to dangerous situations. This is particularly relevant in scenarios where audible alarms are the primary form of alert, such as in fire scenarios, natural hazards, or home security systems. The development of an effective alarm system for people with hearing impairments is crucial to ensure their safety and protection. The use of tactile cues can provide an alternative form of alert, which can be just as effective as audible signals. Therefore, it is important to investigate the design and implementation of... (More)
- The ability to hear is essential for receiving auditory signals, which serve as warnings and alerts in many situations, including fire evacuation. However, people with hearing impairments may miss out such signals and can be exposed to dangerous situations. This is particularly relevant in scenarios where audible alarms are the primary form of alert, such as in fire scenarios, natural hazards, or home security systems. The development of an effective alarm system for people with hearing impairments is crucial to ensure their safety and protection. The use of tactile cues can provide an alternative form of alert, which can be just as effective as audible signals. Therefore, it is important to investigate the design and implementation of alarms that can cater to the needs of people with hearing impairments and ensure that no one is left behind in fire emergency situations. This thesis introduces a prototype of a tactile alarm in which a set of key features of the vibrations can be customized. It is developed using Arduino program and is presented in two prototypes, based on either a motor or magnet system. This device is designed to facilitate testing of the effectiveness of tactile alarms for people with hearing impairments. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- The ability to hear is an important part of our everyday life. With the help of this skill we have an opportunity to talk, exchange knowledge with each other and, which is crucial, - receive auditory signals about warnings and alerts.
Most of the alarm systems have a part, which creates those sound signals – either a bell, wall-mounted sounder, horn, speaker strobes, or even the voice message in addition to mentioned components. This makes it difficult for people with any hearing disability to react on traditional audible alarm messages, as they simply do not hear them. This is why there is a need of developing the effective solution, which will be alerting these people in case of emergency.
In this Master Thesis, two prototypes of the... (More) - The ability to hear is an important part of our everyday life. With the help of this skill we have an opportunity to talk, exchange knowledge with each other and, which is crucial, - receive auditory signals about warnings and alerts.
Most of the alarm systems have a part, which creates those sound signals – either a bell, wall-mounted sounder, horn, speaker strobes, or even the voice message in addition to mentioned components. This makes it difficult for people with any hearing disability to react on traditional audible alarm messages, as they simply do not hear them. This is why there is a need of developing the effective solution, which will be alerting these people in case of emergency.
In this Master Thesis, two prototypes of the alarm system for people with hearing impairments were developed and constructed. They are both made for awaking a sleeping person in case of fire alarm, using vibration devices to shake the bed. The aim of these devices is to be tested in future in order to choose the most effective solution for fast awake of people, and allowing them more time to react and evacuate safely from dangerous place.
First prototype (AAA_1) is using a motor-based vibration device, while second (AAA_2) – a magnet-based one. Both of prototypes consist of three main parts - Box No1, Box No2 and the vibrating device. The working principle is quite quick and simple: when the smoke is created, the smoke sensor inside of the Box No1 detects its presence after some time and produces an electrical signal of specific frequency. This signal is then transmitted to the Box No2, where it eventually goes to a vibrating mechanism (either motor or magnet-based) and activates it. Both of vibrating devices and boxes are of small size, which made the final prototypes to be compact and easy to use.
The intensity of created vibration can be regulated by the controller outside of the Box No2, making it weaker or stronger so the most effective parameters can be found in future. The next stage of this work is to test these prototypes on real people in the sleeping laboratory and to measure time for awaking a person – both with or without hearing impairments. The future tests can include putting vibrating device on or under the mattress, fix it on the bed frame, change device position from the bed center to corners and so on. All of these tests will also include change in not only position of the device, but also its vibration parameters, and, hopefully, the final solution will be found and suggested for worldwide use. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9120152
- author
- Afanasova, Anastasia LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- VBRM05 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Alarm system, Deaf people, Hard-of-hearing people, Fire safety.
- report number
- 5694
- other publication id
- LUTVDG/TVBB—5694--SE
- language
- English
- id
- 9120152
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-08 08:32:41
- date last changed
- 2023-06-08 08:32:41
@misc{9120152,
abstract = {{The ability to hear is essential for receiving auditory signals, which serve as warnings and alerts in many situations, including fire evacuation. However, people with hearing impairments may miss out such signals and can be exposed to dangerous situations. This is particularly relevant in scenarios where audible alarms are the primary form of alert, such as in fire scenarios, natural hazards, or home security systems. The development of an effective alarm system for people with hearing impairments is crucial to ensure their safety and protection. The use of tactile cues can provide an alternative form of alert, which can be just as effective as audible signals. Therefore, it is important to investigate the design and implementation of alarms that can cater to the needs of people with hearing impairments and ensure that no one is left behind in fire emergency situations. This thesis introduces a prototype of a tactile alarm in which a set of key features of the vibrations can be customized. It is developed using Arduino program and is presented in two prototypes, based on either a motor or magnet system. This device is designed to facilitate testing of the effectiveness of tactile alarms for people with hearing impairments.}},
author = {{Afanasova, Anastasia}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The design of evacuation alarms for people who are deaf or hard of hearing}},
year = {{2023}},
}