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Comment by zie | Hacker News Reader

Or you know, what has always happened in the past, and seems to work just fine.. super bright flashing light. Every school/govt building I've ever been that has fire alarms has these installed.

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I don't know about you, but if your eyes are closed and your covers are pulled over your face (like me when I sleep), there's a good chance you're not going to see the flashing light. If you're deaf, there's a good chance you won't hear it either.

But you still breathe. You can still smell.

> But you still breathe. You can still smell.

Not if you have a cold.

I feel like the potent smell of wasabi can make it through even the most irritable of blocked nose.

True, but arguably the same can be said if you've got an ear infection or recovering from eye surgery or something; your respective senses aren't at full capacity then either.

I know that, in my experience, pungent smells have an interesting way of making it through some of the sickest olfactory sense.

Both options should be complimentary to vibration. But best would be light and unique vibration. This way you can detect it no matter what you are doing.

Indeed. I can feel the noise from those loud building type smoke alarms, that schools and govt buildings install all the time. Household smoke alarms are pretty puny tho, I don't usually feel those unless I'm paying attention. They are such a high frequency they don't vibrate in my body much, and are not very loud comparatively.. (since they only have a 9V battery for power)

I am deaf. Those lights are freaking BRIGHT.. they might not wake me up from a deep sleep, but the vibrations from the sound and the super bright light, and I'd probably wake up. If not, my dog will definitely wake me up, that's his job :)

The problem with smell is, it takes a while to get dispersed, I'd probably smell the smoke about the same time as the wasabi. doh. I'm definitely wary of smelling smoke, it gets my notice for sure.

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