I just finished some research on alarm clocks. Seemed like a dull subject to research until I got into it. There has been some strong technology developed to get heavy sleepers up and some stronger technology developed for the hearing impaired. If you exclude the standard run of the mill alarm clock, there are three variations of what we will call the extra loud alarm clock.
Alarms with a high decibel level sound to waken the sleeper
Alarms with a high decibel level sound and has a mechanism that shakes the bed
For the hearing impaired, does all of the above, plus flashing lights and also integrates with the door bell, telephone and other in house notification systems.
High Decibel Sound
The first category of alarm clock is designed to wake the heavy sleeper with nothing but shear, high decibel sound of one form or another. Bells, buzzers, or sirens waken the deep sleeper depending on what works best for them. Timex has the most offerings in the high decibel sound category, followed by Westclox, Equity and Screaming Meanie. The prices range from to . There are a variety of colors available (Timex has one in pink). You can get them in digital or analog and one by Westclox even has the old mechanical bells on top. Equity has the lowest cost offering coming in at . Screaming Meanie has the highest decibel sound at 120 decibels and also has the highest price for the high decibel level, about .
High Decibel Sound With Bed Shaker and Lights
In this group, the user can select to wake up to a loud pulsating audio alarm or vibrating bed shaker. The bed shaker is a vibrating pad triggered by the alarm that goes under the mattress or under the pillow. Sonic Alert offers the most alarms in this category. The only other alarm offering a bed shaker that we could find besides Sonic Alert was the iLuv iMM153 iPod Alarm Clock Radio with Vibrating Bed Shaker. It touts not only a bed shaker but links to your iPod and has digital FM radio. It also has a charging unit for your iPod to get it ready for the next day. Expect to pay - for these alarms. Sonic alert has several offerings in the - range. The iLuv is at the top of the range at nearly .
Hearing Impaired
We found three offerings in this category. The Sonic Alert Sonic Boom SB1000 provides 113 db alarm, bed shaker and flashing lights. The Sonic Alert Sonic Boom SBT425 Alarm Clock not only offers the high decible alarm, bed shaker and flashing light but also comes with a built-in telephone signaler so you don't miss any calls. The Sonic Alert alarms in this category range from to . The highest capability, highest price offering in the category is The Alertmaster 6000. In addition waking, it notifies of 6 events including telephone, doorbell, baby crying, etc.It does so by audio alarms, flashing lamp, bed shaker and a vibrating personal signaler. As you would expect with all this capability, the price is up there on this unit from 0 to 0.
With this knowledge under your belt, there is no excuse for sleeping in in the morning even if you are a heavy sleeper. On a more serious note, the offerings for the hearing impaired include some home safety features that are a must
