The Forums are too quiet for the amount of members that we have.
So, let’s start an active discussion (maybe): What is your favorite voice evacuation system/message and speaker-strobe combination?
I’ll start by saying I absolutely love Simplex systems with Truealert speaker-strobes and the 4100U evacuation message with the uninterrupted fast whoop tone, specifically the one that says “Do not run. Do NOT run.” Something about it feels nostalgic and “retro” to me. I remember seeing some old inspection videos with LifeAlarm speakers and light plates using the same message, and it just felt really cool.
So, that’s my favorite, at least for now. Share yours!
My favorite messages are most of the custom Simplex messages but my favorite tone is the 4100U/ES whoop. The combo for me goes like this
-Custom Simplex message (going to choose the message that was on MrTruealert’s 4100ES before his original channel got deleted)
-Simplex Life-Alarm speakers or the life alarm speaker strobes.
Research shows the best mass notification messages have the following components:
Attention signal (generally a tone, part of the message, or both)
The source of the message (building staff, fire department, etc)
The event (fire, severe weather, etc)
Actions (and when they need to do it)
There are several schools of thought to the specific components of the message, but if we don’t tell people what’s happening, then the notification isn’t effective. A message that just says “There is an emergency in the building, please stand by for further details” and nothing more is a bad message because it doesn’t identify the specific emergency, what to do, and when to do it.
I don’t think there is a single pre-recorded voice message on the market now that hits all four of these key points. You can do live messages, but what do you do between the time the alarm comes in and the time the building staff comes to the microphone to give the live message?
So what would be an example of a message that would do all of this? Well, maybe something like
“Temporal-3 whoop
Attention please; this is the building manager. There is a fire emergency on the fourth floor. Please evacuate immediately using the nearest exit or exit stairway. Do not use elevators.”
I’d love to come across any systems like this, but so far, none. All the voice evac systems I work on are very basic in nature, just a temporal tone for the alarm, and options to page, no pre message tones or automated messages.
