FOCUS FIRE SAFETY
EMERGENCY
ANNOUNCEMENT
Facilities managers are responsible for fire
safety and emergency planning. As such they
must anticipate and plan for a possible large-scale
evacuation. Some kind of audible warning system
is essential – but many buildings have di erent
kinds of alarms, which can create confusion.
How are people to distinguish the fire alarm from
emergency exit alarms, intrusion alarms and
public safety alerts? And how are safety messages
to be conveyed promptly and clearly amid the
cacophony of sound?
When hundreds of people have to be evacuated from
a building or retail site in a hurry, the clarity of public
address announcements is a safety-critical concern.
One solution is to install a voice alarm (VA) system. The
concept of voice commands is increasingly recognised
as an e icient and sensible way to instruct and direct
people on how to leave a building or other area during
an emergency.
There is well documented research into people’s
behaviour in the event of a fire. One notable finding is
the variation in speed of response to di erent types of
alarm signal (see box, reference note 1):
48 JUNE 2019
13 per cent of people react in a timely manner
to bells
45 per cent of people react to text information
75 per cent of people react in a timely manner
to voice messages.
Further research shows that people’s behaviour varies
according to the environment, and in an emergency
they may attempt to exit the building using the same
door they used to enter (2). A clear voice message
greatly increases the response rate and provides
the opportunity to advise occupants of the safest
emergency route.
Voice sounders are a good example of how voice
technology can reduce delays and increase response
during an evacuation, either used as a single-message
24V conventional voice sounder on a sounder/
notification alarm circuit or as part of a sophisticated,
multi-message, multilingual evacuation system.
The trend towards integrating voice sounders into
automated fire systems is growing. With multiple
sounder circuit synchronisation and the ability to
pre-record several messages, voice sounders can
be incorporated into both new and existing alarm
systems. They can be used as a drop-in replacement
for basic tone sounders or as part of a sophisticated
engineered solution.
Multi-message versions of Vimpex’s Fire-Cryer, for
example, have been used in shopping malls like the
Arndale centres and Gunwharf Quays, museums
including Liverpool Maritime Museum, areas of mass
transit such as the London Underground, schools (for
fire, lock down and class change), and a ra‹ of mixeduse
residential, retail and commercial spaces. Voice
sounders can be supplied with foreign language and
bespoke messages where required. Use of a high-quality
rocking armature capsule technology ensures the
broadcast of clear, audible, unambiguous messages.
When designing a new fire alarm system, the first
task is to agree the evacuation strategy and whether
there is any requirement for a staged or phased
evacuation. The alarm tones and recorded messages
must be agreed with the client; with up to seven
messages available in a single sounder, a fire alarm
system can be expanded to include inputs for bomb
alerts, terrorist threats, coded warnings, water leakage
alerts, class change announcements, system tests, ‘all
clear’ notifications, machinery shutdown warnings,
health and safety reminders, general alert messages,
and, of course, warnings of fire. The potential is huge.
Voice sounders provide clear and
unambiguous messages in the
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public and commercial buildings
REFERENCE NOTES
(1) ‘Misconceptions about human behaviour in fire
emergencies’, by Guylc ne Proulx PhD. Published in Canadian
Consulting Engineer, 1997. Also Studies of Human Behaviour
in Fire: Empirical results and their implications for education
and design, by David Cantor. Published by BRE, July 1985.
(2) University of Greenwich. Studies have shown that
occupants tend to use familiar routes – typically using the
exit through which they entered the building. Research
conducted by the University of Greenwich, which has
undertaken a study called Human Behaviour in Fire
Networks (HUBFIN), discovered that only 38 per cent of
people see passive signage in an emergency.
https://www.risk-uk.com/building-evacuation-let-yourvoice
be-heard/
(3) CNN. From voice-mail systems to GPS devices to Siri and
beyond, why are so many computerised voices female? One
answer may lie in biology. Scientific studies have shown
that people generally find women’s voices more pleasing
than men’s.
https://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/21/tech/innovation/
female-computer-voices/index.html
(4) CCN (above). When it comes to consumer applications
of computerised voices, the sex of the voice is usually
determined by what service or product is employing it. For
example, transit systems such as the San Francisco Area’s
BART Bay Area Rapid Transit o‹ en use higher-pitched
voices because they are easier to hear over the clatter of
the train cars.
Look who’s talking...
Behavioural science studies reveal that the
persuasive power of a voiced announcement is
reliant on the vocal characteristics and perceived
credibility of the speaker (3). And for most people,
that means female. Think of virtual assistants Siri
and Alexa, and most satnavs (the default voice for
GPS navigation systems tends to be female). Alpha
male tends not to be a popular choice compared to a
steady, calm female voice. Similarly, for emergency
alert systems it’s been shown (4) that women’s
voices are more persuasive, particularly when the
announcement concerns a nongender
issue.
James Jones, Managing Director of Vimpex, a
manufacturer and distributor of fire detection, alarm
and evacuation products and accessories, is familiar
with the analytics behind the issue of voice-based alerts
to convey authority. “It’s commonly accepted that the
female voice is more appropriate for the vast majority
of applications, and in fact the female voice ‘carries’
somewhat better in many environments,” he says.
“That’s why women’s voices in seven languages are
available with our products.”
When Vimpex developed its Fire-Cryer voice sounder
ranges, it looked at the di erence between male and
female voices and measured such aspects as instinctive
reaction and empathetic acceptance.
“Another important aspect is the behaviour of the
female voice when used in sounder technology,” Jones
continues. “The female voice is ‘purer’ in that it actually
has a narrower frequency range at the same sound
pressure level (SPL) than the male equivalent. This
means that it is much more easily reproduced through
the Fire-Cryer sounder and, for any given sound level,
requires less current than a male voice.”
He adds that even in products supplied to
national regions that are arguably more traditional
and patriarchal, the female voice has been deemed
appropriate.
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