4 ms·

Can visual alarms wake a person up?

by tlrobinson 13y ago

chrisabrams 13y ago
I was wondering the same thing.
brudgers 13y ago
Appropriately placed, almost certainly. A 75 Candela strobe in a bedroom is pretty much impossible to sleep through.
- baddox 13y ago
  Even if you sleep with a mask (which is pretty common), or sleep with your head under the covers (which is even more common)?
  - pgrote 13y ago
    Are they all intermittent? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLHJ7WnXbDc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLHJ7WnXbDc
    - sfall 13y ago
      yes the flash on and off, for fire alarm notification device, they are powered by a direct current circuit that also requires battery backup having a constant state light would put a larger load for no gain. Also it be more like emergency lighting not a notification appliance
  - brudgers 13y ago
    Not sleeping with one's iPhone is far more common, despite the belovedness of Apple products. In design terms an alarm strobe has removed everything unnecessary for its purpose and its sole purpose is to save your life on the rare occurrence of fire. It won't be on a charger or in your pants or sitting on the table by the TV or off with your spouse on a business trip. It will be hanging on the wall, with power or backup power, hardwired to the alarm panel because that's what field experience has shown works. Don't get me wrong, the sentiment behind the product is admirable. But the alarm industry is already deadly serious and has robust proven solutions based not on theory but on close attention to the causes and consequences of actual fires. US Fire Administrationhttp://www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/index.shtm http://www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/index.shtm NFPA: http://www.nfpa.org/ http://www.nfpa.org/ Firehouse.com: http://www.firehouse.com/ http://www.firehouse.com/
    - Retric 13y ago
      It will however not be there if your sleeping somewhere else. Not that I think an iPhone is the correct place for such a life saving device, but redundancy is rarely a bad thing.
  - encoderer 13y ago
    Possibly if you're deaf you'd find sleeping with a mask somewhat unwise? Or possibly not, maybe somebody can say for sure, but it strikes me as reasonable.
- alexvr 13y ago
  I'm curious - can't doctors tell if people are asleep/unconscious by shining light into the eye to look for dilation? Why wouldn't that also wake them? And on another note, it seems like emergency alarm systems should alert people in a number of different ways. Apparently it's not unusual for kids to sleep through regular household smoke detector alarms.
  - carbocation 13y ago
    The pupillary reflex is a brainstem reflex. As long as there is brainstem activity, you'd expect that reflex to be present (exceptions: brainstem death, cranial nerve damage, depressants/anesthetics, probably a few others). You can't tell if someone is awake based on pupillary light reflex.
sfall 13y ago
yes, deaf people can have bed side lamps that will flash to wake them up, notify them of a fire alarm, or the doorbell

Can visual alarms wake a person up?

chrisabrams 13y ago

I was wondering the same thing.

brudgers 13y ago

Appropriately placed, almost certainly. A 75 Candela strobe in a bedroom is pretty much impossible to sleep through.

baddox 13y ago
Even if you sleep with a mask (which is pretty common), or sleep with your head under the covers (which is even more common)?
- pgrote 13y ago
  Are they all intermittent? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLHJ7WnXbDc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLHJ7WnXbDc
  - sfall 13y ago
    yes the flash on and off, for fire alarm notification device, they are powered by a direct current circuit that also requires battery backup having a constant state light would put a larger load for no gain. Also it be more like emergency lighting not a notification appliance
- brudgers 13y ago
  Not sleeping with one's iPhone is far more common, despite the belovedness of Apple products. In design terms an alarm strobe has removed everything unnecessary for its purpose and its sole purpose is to save your life on the rare occurrence of fire. It won't be on a charger or in your pants or sitting on the table by the TV or off with your spouse on a business trip. It will be hanging on the wall, with power or backup power, hardwired to the alarm panel because that's what field experience has shown works. Don't get me wrong, the sentiment behind the product is admirable. But the alarm industry is already deadly serious and has robust proven solutions based not on theory but on close attention to the causes and consequences of actual fires. US Fire Administrationhttp://www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/index.shtm http://www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/index.shtm NFPA: http://www.nfpa.org/ http://www.nfpa.org/ Firehouse.com: http://www.firehouse.com/ http://www.firehouse.com/
  - Retric 13y ago
    It will however not be there if your sleeping somewhere else. Not that I think an iPhone is the correct place for such a life saving device, but redundancy is rarely a bad thing.
- encoderer 13y ago
  Possibly if you're deaf you'd find sleeping with a mask somewhat unwise? Or possibly not, maybe somebody can say for sure, but it strikes me as reasonable.
alexvr 13y ago
I'm curious - can't doctors tell if people are asleep/unconscious by shining light into the eye to look for dilation? Why wouldn't that also wake them? And on another note, it seems like emergency alarm systems should alert people in a number of different ways. Apparently it's not unusual for kids to sleep through regular household smoke detector alarms.
- carbocation 13y ago
  The pupillary reflex is a brainstem reflex. As long as there is brainstem activity, you'd expect that reflex to be present (exceptions: brainstem death, cranial nerve damage, depressants/anesthetics, probably a few others). You can't tell if someone is awake based on pupillary light reflex.

sfall 13y ago

yes, deaf people can have bed side lamps that will flash to wake them up, notify them of a fire alarm, or the doorbell