We Can Hear You

Dave Kwasinski recently received a referral from an existing customer of H&S, who was building a new home. He had the blueprints. He didn’t know much else. He walked in the door, not knowing the homeowners were hearing impaired.

 

Dave, a Security Consultant in our Pewaukee, WI office, was taken aback. He didn’t know what to do. What happens when the alarm goes off? How do you design a solution for a hearing-impaired family? When the alarm goes off, there’s a challenge – how will I make sure they are notified effectively, safely and efficiently?

Dave dug in. He worked on a security system based on the blueprints he was provided. He worked with electricians on a few wire runs in new house. He researched. He knew this: When the alarm went off, the homeowners wouldn’t hear the siren.

 

What to do? Designing a device for a hearing-impaired family was the solution. But how to go about that? Dave didn’t know. He thought of how a clock could vibrate a bed. Perhaps alert the family in a novel way.

 

He sat down with our partners at Alarm.com. They have multiple products and services to deal with fires, floods, break-ins, sound, lamp modules. They must have something to turn on and vibrate a bed, right?

 

Maybe not. Dave explored options with a manufacturer of equipment that provides a product line specifically designed for hearing impaired people and together with Alarm.com, came up with a solution: A bed vibrating device that would trigger when the alarm system went off due to an intrusion or a fire; including wireless strobe lights in the bedroom and living room. This would wake the homeowners. Sounds kinda simple, but it took a lot of exploration, discussion and innovative thinking.

 

“It was a learning curve for us. We spent a lot of time on it. It took multiple trips to troubleshoot different solutions. Now someone who is hearing impaired can be safer in their home, knowing that we have designed a system that would work specifically for them to help them get a better night’s rest” Kwasinski explained.

 

“It’s pretty neat. It was quite a learning curve but an amazing experience,” he said.

 

Now, the family has a health and well-being system, and will be notified even if they are sleeping. “They were very appreciative of it,” Dave observed.

 

H&S is a custom security company. We offer solutions using all our tools.

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