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Home Safety Tips if a Family Member is Hearing Impaired

One aspect of hearing loss that is rarely

discussed is the decrease in safety of

those who have hearing difficulties.

Imagine this situation: you’re in your

house and a fire breaks out, and like most

people today you have smoke detectors to

warn you so that you and your family can

safely evacuate before the fire becomes

life-threatening. But this time imagine

that this fire breaks out at night, when you’re asleep, and you have removed

your hearing aids.

The smoke detectors standard in almost all houses and those required by

city or state governments produce a very loud warning tone at a frequency

between 3,000 and 4,000 Hertz. This approach is fine for most people, but

unfortunately these frequencies are among those most susceptible to age-

related hearing loss, so seniors or those who have sustained other types of

hearing loss cannot hear them. So even if you were awake, if you’re among

the more than 11 million Americans with hearing loss, there’s a chance that

you might not hear the alarm.

Luckily, there are home safety products that are specifically created for the

needs of the hearing impaired. For those with mild to moderate hearing loss,

there are smoke detectors that emit a 520 Hz square-wave warning sound,

making the sound much easier to hear. For those who are deaf and without

a hearing aid or when a cochlear implant (CI), there are other alert systems

which use a mix of flashing lights, very loud alarms, and bed shakers to

wake you up. For comprehensive home safety, a number of these more

modern devices have been developed to be easily incorporated into more

extensive home protection systems to alert you in case of intruders, or if

neighbors are pounding on your doors.

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To hear other sounds that may indicate danger, many hearing-impaired

people have installed induction loops in their houses for boosting the

performance of their hearing aids or CIs. These systems are long wires

positioned in a loop around your living room, kitchen, or bedrooms. These

can activate the telecoils embedded in your hearing aid or CI that raise the

volume of sound; this can be very helpful in emergency situations.

We shouldn’t ignore the basic telephone, which is indispensable in an

emergency of any kind. Fortunately, a number of modern mobile and home

telephones are now telecoil-compatible, to permit their use by individuals

wearing hearing aids or cochlear implants. Moreover, there are telephones

specifically designed for the hearing impaired which incorporate

speakerphones that function at high volumes, and which can be voice-

activated. So if you fell and hurt yourself away from the telephone, you

could still voice-dial for assistance. There are other accessories for cell

phones, such as vibrating wristbands that can alert you to an incoming

telephone call even if you’re asleep.

Other safety recommendations are less technical and more practical, such as

always keeping the phone numbers of fire departments, ambulance

companies, health care providers, and emergency services handy. We are as

concerned about your safety as we are about your hearing, so if we can be

of assistance with any additional ideas or suggestions, feel free to call our

office.