Nobody wants to imagine their home could actually catch on fire, but we all need to take precautions just in case.

Now a new study from the Sleep Disorders Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital reveals young children are more likely to be awakened by a smoke alarm that uses their mother’s voice than one with a typical high-pitched alarm.

Study co-author, Dr. Mark Plaingard explains, “Children are remarkably resistant to awakening by sound when asleep. [They] sleep longer and deeper than adults and require louder sounds to awaken than adults. For these reasons, children are less likely to awaken and escape a nighttime home fire.”

Researchers looked at 176 children, ages five to 12, and found that compared with a tone alarm, a sleeping participant was about three times more likely to be awakened by a mother’s voice alarm.

The scientists plan to see if a generic female or male voice is as effective as a mother’s voice, and to compare a voice alarm with a low-pitch tone alarm.

In any case, is there such thing AS a smoke alarm that can record a voice?  I went looking, and found one by a brand called KidSmart – but it’s sold out everywhere, which either means it’s a huge hit, or they don’t make them anymore.  Someone get on that, stat!!!