Alarm clocks for deaf people.

Alarm clocks for deaf people come in a wide range of styles and sizes and some look very similar to standard alarm clocks. Unlike standard alarm clocks, they alert you to the alarm by vibrating or producing a flashing light. Many also have a sound alarm. This feature can be useful if your partner is hearing. We tell you more about the different features below.

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Alarm clocks with a vibrating alarm

These have a socket for a round or square-shaped pad that vibrates when the alarm goes off. It vibrates continuously or on-and-off, at regular intervals.

Most vibrating pads are designed to go under your pillow though it is a good idea to put the pad inside the pillowcase to stop it from slipping out.

You can also put the vibrating pad under your mattress. Although this might be more comfortable than putting the pad under your pillow, you may find that it is not powerful enough to wake you. Vibrating pads are not powerful enough to shake your whole bed.

Vibrating alarm clocks are battery operated or can be plugged into an electric socket.

You can also buy a small hand-held vibrating travel alarm clock. The whole clock vibrates and you can put it under your pillow.

Alarm clocks with a flashing light

The light on these flashes when the alarm goes off. Some people are woken easily by a flashing light, but if you are turned away from the light when it flashes, or if your bedroom is not very dark, the light may not wake you. However, a flashing light can be a useful feature if you need to be alerted to a specific time while you are awake.

Flashing light alarm clocks are generally plugged into an electric socket.

Alarm clocks with a sound alarm

If you are hard of hearing or if your partner is hearing, a beeper or buzzer can be a useful additional feature to a vibrating or flashing light alarm. You can adjust the loudness and frequency of the sound on some clocks.

Check you can hear the alarm before buying it.

These alarm clocks are battery operated or can be plugged into an electric socket.

Some features to look out for

If you are thinking about buying an alarm clock, look out for the following features:

Battery back-up
This feature means that after a power cut, the clock will still show the correct time once the power comes back on again. However, on most clocks, the battery back-up will not power the vibrating pad or flashing light alarm, as this would drain the battery too quickly. This means that in a power failure, though your alarm clock shows the correct time, the alarm itself will not work.

You will have to fit your own batteries on some alarm clocks. In others, the battery is automatically re-charged when the alarm clock is plugged into an electric socket.

How long the alarm lasts
If you are worried about oversleeping, remember that the alarm on some clocks stops automatically after less than 60 seconds and on others it can last for a few minutes or more.

Snooze function
If you press the snooze button, it will stop the alarm and set it to go off again after five or ten minutes. You can do this on most clocks a number of times as long as you press the snooze button while the alarm is going.

Clock display
Alarm clocks may have a traditional analogue clock face with hour, minute and second hands, or a modern LED (Light Emitting Diode) or LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) clock face:

• The hour and minute hands may glow in the dark on some analogue clocks.

• LED displays can be very bright at night though most alarm clocks have a control to reduce the brightness.

• LCD clocks have an illumination button that lets you to see the time when it is dark.

Alarm 'on' light
Most digital clocks have a light that shows the alarm has been set. If you press the alarm set button, you can see what time the alarm will go off.

On analogue clocks, a pointer - usually in a different colour to the hour, minute and second hands - shows when the alarm will go off.

Vibration mode
Most alarm clocks produce regular bursts of vibration. This means that the vibration comes on, and then goes off, and then comes back on again, and so on. If you use a vibrating pad with your smoke alarm, make sure that it has a different pattern of vibration to the one you use with your alarm clock.

How much do they cost?

Alarm clocks for deaf people cost between £15 and £80, depending on the model you choose to buy. You will probably not find them in high street shops as most are available only by mail order. We tell you where to buy them in the section.