Alarms are used by different groups of people in emergencies. Social alarms make use of the telephone system to call for help. A button is pressed on a special telephone which initiates an automatic telephone call to a control centre, where staff can establish the problem and send appropriate help.

Because the system uses speech between control centre staff and the person who has raised the alarm it is not ideal for people who are deaf. The Safe 21 development will integrate a text telephone with a social alarm, thereby allowing a deaf user to converse with the control centre when he or she calls for help.

How it works

The integration of a text telephone with a social alarm offers deaf people the same level of service as any other social alarm user. For the first time deaf people will be able to converse with the control centre to give more information about what has happened, and to receive advice and reassurance that the appropriate help is on the way.

9 times out of 10, an alarm call does not need the response of emergency services. Often the user needs assistance which can be provided by a nearby neighbour or relative. Sometimes the alarm has been set off inadvertently. By establishing what has happened, control centre staff can send the appropriate help. Without this information, the only course of action is to send emergency services.

Trials of the social alarm for deaf people will take place in late 1998 and 1999

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Safe 21 will demonstrate how the existing social alarm infrastructure can be used to deliver a much broader range of services for people who are living alone. The project runs 1997-1999 with trials of equipment from late 1998.