Sound of mum’s voice more likely to wake a child over a smoke alarm

The sound of a mother's voice is more likely to wake a child than the noise of a smoke alarm.

New research has shown that a detector that plays a child's mother's voice instead of a shrill alarm was three times more likely to wake a sleeping child. 176 children were part of the US Nationwide Children’s Hospital study to find out what was the best way to wake a child during an emergency. Co-author of the study, Dr Mark Splaingard, said that the results could help to save lives in the future. He said:

"Children are remarkably resistant to awakening by sound when asleep. "We were able to find a smoke alarm sound that reduces the amount of time it takes for many children … to wake up and leave the bedroom."

The study noted that it tended to be more difficult to wake children up during a fire due to the fact that they sleep deeper than adults. However, the research showed that between 86 and 91 percent of children involved in the study woke up by the sound of their mother's voice through an alarm, rather than a generic alarm tone. It was then easier for these children to 'rescue' themselves from the fire because they had woken up sooner.