Audible Sillence...

Is it still allowed?
Jack(MyTechTime) and I were wanting to know…

So what is it?

I would love to see MyTechTime’s sources, because we’ve heard him lie before!

This article gives some insight:

It’s in the code these days. From NFPA 72 - 2013.

10.13* Fire Alarm Notification Appliance Deactivation.
10.13.1 A means for turning off activated alarm notification
appliance(s) shall be permitted.
10.13.2 When an occupant notification alarm signal deactivation
means is actuated, both audible and visible notification
appliances shall be simultaneously deactivated.

10.13.2.1* When voice instructions are in progress, visible appliances
in same area where speakers are activated shall also
be activated
where required by the emergency response plan.
(SIG-ECS)

In the explanatory material there’s this:

A.10.13 It is the intent that both visual and audible appliances
are shut off when the notification appliance silence feature
is activated
on the fire alarm control unit.
Per the ADA, it is important not to provide conflicting signals
for the hearing or visually impaired.

A.10.13.2.1 The intent to activate the strobes while voice instructions
are being provided is to alert the hearing impaired of
the fact that information is being provided and they should use
the visual indication as an indication to seek out information.

So not only do both have to go off, but when manual voice control is being used the strobes in that area have to come back on.

MyTechTime is spot on.

Similar verbiage exists in the NFPA 72 - 2010 and 2007. The 2002 code allowed audible silence, but left it up the AHJ to decide if visuals would be shut off too or not. Now, it’s important to note that prior to 2007 the ADA had their own guidelines we had to follow so there were two separate codes to follow for this so to speak, in 2007-2010 they finally aligned them with the NFPA 72 to eliminate any confusion. This means the ADA might have had these requirements all along, despite what the 2002 code stated, but I’m not aware of it.

I got this information from Andrew a while back. I am not going to even ask what you think I lied about, I don’t want to start an argument.

That, though, is probably false. Panels still have an “audible silence” feature that can be selected to shut off NACs, do selective silence, or stuff like that. Case in point: the S3 has built-in sync protocols for System Sensor, Wheelock, and Gentex. If configured properly, touching the Silence option will perform audible silence over two wires. It’s not in the code for it to be done anymore (my high school, built in 2008, shuts off the horns and strobes upon silencing) but they can do it. Rather than calling it “audible silence”, most panels call it “signal silence” or “alarm silence” now.

You guys are correct – NFPA 72, the 2013 edition, no longer allows audible silence.

On a lot of panels I have seen, each NAC has an option for keeping the strobes on after shutting off the horns if you are using a sync mode. However a lot of the more basic panels like the Fire-Lite MS-2 do not give you this option.

You cut off the quote. New panels, like something that couldn’t be configured don’t do it, but you can of course configure it on smarter panels. Remember, this was originally a quickly typed facebook message.

Either way, it’s no longer in the code anymore, but I’m sure systems built before the 2013 NFPA 72 code went into effect will still allow audible silence, at least until the panel gets replaced.

One advantage that audible silence while keeping the strobes flashing had, is that people would be sure to reset the panel and not forget about it.

Yeah, but the whole point of phasing out audible silence is to not give contradictory signals to the hearing impaired.

Yes. That makes sense.

The AHJ can choose to do whatever he wants, so most panels can still do it simply because there’s arguments for it so some AHJ’s may want it.

For instance, firefighters may want to audibles intermittently silenced so they can effectively communicate with each other, but leave the strobes flashing the entire time as to not completely confuse everyone into thinking the fire alarm is randomly going on and off.

It’s kinda stupid. If the stones are active I’m taking it as a full alarm. It’s ment to alow staff to find out what’s going on.