Emergency alert device for deaf gets student re-design
We will be looking at the designs in detail and considering whether there are aspects we can include in our products
”Liz Parslow, Marketing Manager from Deaf Alerter Plc.
University staff members with prize winning students and the marketing manager from Deaf Alerter Plc.
Our Product Design students were given the chance to do a hi-tech update on devices that alert people who are deaf to a fire or other emergencies as part of Deaf Awareness Week.
The challenge
Deaf Alerter Plc challenged our students to see if they could improve on their current Alerter models.
Two winning ideas were for the current portable, pager sized model to be built into a belt buckle or to give the device a charging base. The firm is considering all the students' designs to see if there are aspects that can be included in future products.
In the event of a fire a centrally located radio frequency transmitter triggers the device, which vibrates and displays a pre-recorded alert message.
The designs
Students had to improve the current Alerter whilst leaving it cost effective, practical for manufacture, robust, lightweight and reliable.
They met with Deaf Alerter's Technical Manager, Mark Lawday, and then with staff and students at the Royal School for the Deaf in Derby, to better understand what deaf people's requirements and views were.
The winners
The company sponsored the design challenge, including a £100 prize for the winning design, which was split between two second year students. They were Sergej Kuckir, an exchange student from the Czech Republic on the University's BA (Hons) Product Design course, and Nathan Parkin, on the BSc (Hons) Product Design, Innovation and Marketing course.
Sergej came up with a more ergonomic design for the alerter and a charging base for it to stand on. Nathan's idea was for the device to be built into a belt buckle, rather than being carried.
Following the prize giving, Nathan said: "When designing my device I really wanted to make a product that any person with hearing difficulties would be happy to use, ranging from young to old. The belt buckle idea came from the notion of making a device that was 'invisible' to everyone but the user, meaning that they wouldn't instantly stand out."
Mike Veveris, Lecturer in Product Design added: "We try and make the tasks we set our students as similar as we can to the way they will have to work when in the industry."
