While the use of smoke alarms and signaling systems is associated with a reduction in fire fatalities in the general population, reducing the chances of dying in a fire by up to 50% when present, a recent study suggests that adults ages 65 and older may not fully benefit from conventional smoke alarm systems, particularly during sleeping hours.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, older adults are more than twice as likely to die in a home fire as the average person.

The NFPA’s Fire Protection Research Foundation, with support from the U.S. Fire Administration’s Fire Prevention and Safety grants program and the alarm industry, undertook a study in 2005 to assess performance requirements for alarm and signaling systems to meet the needs of an aging population. The study showed that under comparative test conditions, the high-pitched signal typical of U.S. smoke alarms performed the most poorly of the alternative signals tested.

The study concluded that the high-frequency alarm signal ultimately should be replaced by an alternative signal that offers significantly better waking effectiveness across the general population, once the nature of the best signal has been determined.

Additional information from the study and a summary technical report in PDF format are available at the NFPA Web site.