By Maureen Lally /Special to Healthcare Facilities Today

To fulfill their mission, hospitals and other healthcare institutions must create a quiet environment of caring and healing. This requires reliable, high-quality solutions that protect life and property and help meet compliance standards for life-safety systems. 

When it comes to fire alarm systems today, advanced technology can provide better protection and value-added benefits that are attractive to healthcare executives and the entire healthcare facility team.

While addressable technology has been in use for many years with fire detection, its value is truly starting to take hold on the notification side of fire alarm systems with the continued evolution of addressable solutions. In these addressable notification systems, each device has a unique address and built-in intelligence to continually report its status to a fire alarm panel. 

The latest advancement to be introduced – addressable speakers with individual on-off audio control for each device – goes even further in taking safety to the next level and providing game-changing benefits.

Here are five key benefits associated with addressable speakers in healthcare settings.

1. Easier Testing and Maintenance, Less Disruption: With addressable notification technology, the days of long, disruptive fire alarm tests are gone. Work that used to take hours or even days – and create significant disruption for patients and staff -- can now be done in a matter of seconds. Addressable speakers offer appliance self-testing capability as well as advanced programming and reporting features. The self-test process takes just seconds to complete. It can be initiated manually or programmed at the panel to run automatically at the most convenient time for the facility. Self-testing can reduce business disruption and provide significant time and cost savings, particularly in large hospitals where notification appliance testing can be difficult. If a device fails the test, it will be identified at the panel, which means the self-testing process meets the testing, inspection and maintenance requirements specified in NFPA 72: National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code. In addition, addressable notification and appliance self-testing can also help healthcare institutions meet strict compliance standards established by The Joint Commission and other accreditation organizations.                             . 

2. Targeted Messaging for Enhanced Emergency Communications and Response: Addressable speakers have the capability to deliver audio messages to specifically targeted areas within a building. Each audio unit has its own address on the fire alarm system and is supervised by a fire alarm panel. As a result, the fire alarm panel can be programmed to select exactly which speakers are to be used – and what message will be played on them – during an emergency. This targeted audio paging capability enables the delivery of critical, event-specific information exactly where it’s needed. For example, in the case of a small isolated event in a waiting area, an individual speaker can be activated to deliver a message in that specific area without bothering other sections of a hospital. In broader emergency situations, groups of speakers can be used to deliver evacuation instructions for specific parts of the building, based on the nature of the situation. Because audio messages are directed by programming rather than wire runs, addressable speakers open up a new world of flexibility, configurability and performance for audio fire alarm systems.

3. More System Design and Expansion Flexibility: The wiring architecture of addressable speakers is extremely flexible, providing easier, more efficient design and faster, more cost-effective installation. When laying out a system with addressable devices, circuits can be designed to go further with less wire. This gives engineers more freedom and makes it less likely that they will encounter design roadblocks. With conventional notification, the wiring is restrictive and rather inflexible, so it’s difficult to design systems that are efficient, cost-effective and readily expandable. Put all of this together, and you get an addressable solution that’s flexible, reliable, cost-effective and highly scalable, enabling the system to grow and expand as buildings change and life-safety needs evolve at your healthcare facility or campus.

4. Lower Cost of System Installation and Ownership: Addressable notification technology can lower the cost of fire alarm system installation and the cost of ownership over the life of the system. The flexible wiring architecture, combined with the greater power efficiency of the appliances themselves, means less wiring is needed and that devices can be installed with smaller gauge, unshielded wire. Appliances that operate at lower current draws can significantly increase wiring distances and allow more devices to be connected per circuit. The appliance self-testing capability of addressable notification (described in more detail in item #1 above) also helps to lower the cost of ownership over the life of the fire alarm system. Because addressable notification appliances can essentially test themselves, the life-cycle costs of testing, inspecting and maintaining the devices are significantly reduced. That is true whether your hospital contracts for fire alarm system service or deploys in-house staff to maintain the systems.  

5. Improved Audibility, Intelligibility and Aesthetics: Addressable speakers provide a high-quality audio output that improves audibility and intelligibility of messages and enables dual-purpose functionality. In an emergency, the speakers operate as part of a healthcare facility’s fire alarm system, notifying building occupants about what to do through pre-recorded messages, tones, or live messaging. In addition, the quality of the sound enables the speakers to be used for standard daily functions like non-emergency paging and background music. From an aesthetics standpoint, the new devices also feature a sleek, streamlined look that blends well with the building or facility decor.

The reality in today’s technology-oriented world is that hospitals and other healthcare institutions can provide robust safety and meet compliance requirements -- without disrupting patients and staff. The development of addressable notification solutions offers compelling value throughout the life cycle of a healthcare building or campus – from design and installation to testing, inspection and ongoing fire alarm system maintenance. More efficient use of time, lower operational costs and less noise – so the healthcare facility team can fulfill its mission-critical responsibilities and patients can rest easy.

Maureen Lally is the Vice President of Marketing for Tyco International North America Installation and Service.