Man Invents Smoke Detector for the Hearing Impaired

WATERFORD, Mich. (WJBK) - You are sleeping and a fire has started in your home, but what if you or someone you love is hard of hearing of deaf?

"The way this system works is there's a smoke detector that's placed somewhere in the house," said Waterford Fire Lieutenant John Lyman. "When it goes off … you've got audio that the hard of hearing and deaf probably will not be able to hear, but it will vibrate (a) disc that will be located underneath the citizen's pillow, and that will vibrate them and wake them up."

The owner of Silent Call Communications, a 23 year Waterford company, designed this new smoke detector for the hearing impaired.

"My brother-in-law is deaf, and I had asked him how he would know if he had a fire, and he said when he smelled the smoke," said George Elwell. "I knew there had to be a better way."

So, he designed the Sidekick. When the smoke detector recognizes smoke, there is an alarm, but it also sends a wireless signal to the vibrator. Someone with hearing loss keeps the vibrator under their pillow.

"I was working for General Motors in their overseas operations for 21 years. So, I was in engineering, and I knew there was a lot better way of doing it than waiting until he has to smell the smoke," Elwell said.

Waterford firefighters respond to house fires, and many homeowners are hearing impaired.

"Smoke detectors are what (save) lives in a fire, and we want to get something out to our hard of hearing and deaf community," Lyman said.

He wrote a request to the federal government and it worked. He was awarded a federal grant, which paid for a large, bulk purchase of these new detectors. Now, any Waterford resident with hearing problems may call the fire department for a free install while supplies last.

"We will install the smoke detector. They'll get one smoke detector, one receiver and then the bed shaker," said Lyman. "We'll program it. We'll turn it on and we'll active it for them so they know how it works, and they'll be ready to roll with it."

For anyone not living in Waterford, you can purchase a detector. They start at $300. You can find them at the retail store at the plant on Williams Lake Road in Waterford.

Silent Call Communications also sells online. Their website is www.silentcall.com.