The Bellman and Symfon Visit Alert System
|
|
I’d like to wax poetic about an amazing Swedish company called Bellman and Symfon that makes alerting devices for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind. Unfortunately (but fortunately for you) our newsletters have a 500-word limit, so I’ll dive right in.
I lied, I have one more thing to say: these alerting devices involve transmitters and receivers. If you are not familiar with those two words I will explain them here. Think about a radio and how music is sent to it. The transmitter is a radio tower. The receiver is the radio. The radio tower transmits (sends) those sweet Simon and Garfunkel tunes to your radio, which receives the signal. Basically, for “Cecelia” to get to your radio you first need a radio tower to send it there. If that tower (transmitter) didn’t exist then you’d never hear “Cecelia” and surely that would break your heart.
Now, let’s jump into these alerting devices. Bellman and Symfon have a variety of alert transmitters including a doorbell, baby cry, smoke/carbon monoxide, and phone ring alerts. For receivers you can choose from an alarm clock, a flashing receiver, or a pager. The flashing receiver is a small tower like device that can be brought with you while moving around the house. It does need to be plugged in, but the portability is a great feature. A bed shaker (small vibrating disc) can be attached through a 3.5mm input into the back of either receiver. Each receiver therefore can be set up to alert the person through a bright flashing light, vibration, loud alert, or all three. Additionally, there are four differently colored bright LED lights on both receivers that tell you exactly what transmitter has been triggered. Each alert has its own color, green for the doorbell, red for fire, orange for a baby cry, and yellow for when the phone rings.
The transmitter I was most excited about was the door sensor that alerts someone to a door opening. The door sensor consists of two pieces, one that goes on the door frame and one that goes on the door itself. They sit side by side. The piece that is on the door frame connects to an all-purpose transmitter that sends a signal directly to any of the Bellman and Symfon receivers described above. This is an excellent tool for those who take care of elderly family members or children who are prone to wandering. The Entry Alert Notification System, which includes the door sensor, transmitter, alarm clock, and bed shaker, is available on their site for $436.
|
|
|
|
Image Description:
Left: The door sensor. There is a picture of door with 2 small rectangular sensors connected to the right side of the door and doorframe. They are touching. When the door opens, they no longer touch. The text in a blue bubble says “on the door.”
Center: The transmitter. A white rectangular box with a cord coming from the bottom. There are two green lights at the top of the box. This is the transmitter plugged into the door sensor. Text in a pink bubble says “in the hallway.”
Right: The receiver. The alarm clock receiver is round and mostly white. There is a light around the perimeter of the face that lights up and flashes when the alarm goes off. The face reads “10:32” and there is a time at the bottom for the time the alarm that goes off that reads “6:30” Next to the clock is a small red and white disc which vibrates when the alarm goes off.
|
|
This system is one I frequently recommend because of its reliability, extremely bright light, and strong vibration options. Please note that this light is extremely bright. There is a silicone sleeve that can also be purchased to put over the light. This will dull the light if you find it too bright. Anyone who really needs to be alerted in a visual way will definitely be able to use this device.
You can check out all the items available in the US at their US shop page (shop.bellman.com). We also have a number of these devices available for folks to try from our lending library (www.vt.at4all.com).
|
|
The contents of this newsletter were submitted by Caelan Manning; A.T Consultant for HireAbility VT serving the St. Johnsbury, White River Junction, Brattleboro, and Springfield offices.
Contact the Vermont Assistive Technology Program by calling 1-800-750-6355 or by emailing dail.atinfo@vermont.gov. For more information visit our website (www.atp.vermont.gov). And if there is a topic that you'd like to see covered, please feel free to let us know!
Check out past editions of our newsletter or subscribe to future newsletters using the Subscribe button below!
|
|
|
|
|
