• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Contact | 360-778-1266

Center for Hearing Loss Help

Help for your hearing loss, tinnitus and other ear conditions

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Reference
    • Glossary of Ear Terms
    • Drug Pronunciation Guide
    • Looping Information
    • “Learn About Hearing”
    • Useful Links
  • Museum
  • Blog
  • Shop
    • Alerting Devices
    • Assistive Listening Devices
    • Books
    • Loop Systems
    • Speechreading CDs
    • Telephones, amplified
    • Visor Cards

Wearable Vibrators for Alerting You to Doorbells, Phones, Smoke Detectors, Etc.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A chaplain to seniors asked:

Do you know where I can get a doorbell type device that can activate a vibrator worn by a fairly deaf senior?

There are a good number of alerting systems available that flash lights and shake beds. Here are two that I can recommend.

1. Serene Innovations: This system has a vibrating pager you typically wear on your belt. When the doorbell (or any of the other alerting devices that are available) goes off, it vibrates, sounds an alert and a lighted icon comes on to let you know which device is trying to alert you.

2. Silent Call: This system is similar to the above, except, as its name implies, it does not have an audible alert. For example, when the doorbell goes off, it vibrates and shows a “door” icon at the same time.

Both of these systems are flexible. Besides alerting you to the doorbell, they can alert you to the phone, your alarm clock, to smoke detectors, CO detectors, sound monitors, fire alarms, weather radios, etc.

When you are in bed you can put them in their charger/docking stations and with bed vibrators plugged into the docking units, they will alert you while you are asleep too.

You can start with a basic system and add to it whenever you want. For example, you can start with just one transmitter (e.g. doorbell) and one receiver (e.g. pager) and if you want to, add more transmitter modules as you find the need for them. I use the doorbell, telephone, smoke detector, fire alarm, CO detector, and sound monitor modules at present, although I also have the weather radio module as well.

You can learn about (and purchase) the Serene Innovations system here.

You can get the Silent Call system here.

Besides the body-worn receivers, both systems also have bed table (and other) receivers that flash lights and have bed vibrators. I use them too. I love how flexible these systems are. I have tailored them to fit my exact needs. I’m sure you will find they will do the same for you.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Karen says

    February 12, 2011 at 10:22 PM

    My elderly mother lives with my sister who is hard of hearing. They need a device that each can wear (perhaps around their necks on a cord) that my mom can press or speak into and my sister who may be on the second floor can feel vibrate and will know my mom is calling for her.
    Recently my mother fell and broke her wrist and could not get up in the downstairs living room. My sister who was on the second floor at the time did not hear the fall or could not hear my mother calling for help. My mother laid on the floor 45 minutes with a broken wrist before my sister came downstairs and found her and called 911.
    I hope you know of such a device and can share that information with us.
    Many thanks.
    Karen

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Hearing Loss Research & Resources

Free Visor Cards

Download your free Visor Cards for hard of hearing or deaf people here.

Loop Systems

Loop your home or meeting room. Discover how you can hear wonderfully clear sound again when listening to the TV/radio, etc, or when listening to a speaker at a meeting.

Loop systems are one of the best-kept secrets in town. To learn more about Loop Systems and what they can do for you, click here.

Take Control of Your Tinnitus—Here’s How

If your ears ring, buzz, chirp, hiss, click or roar, you know just how annoying tinnitus can be. You do not have to put up with this racket for the rest of your life. This book teaches you many things you can do to help bring your tinnitus under your control so it no longer bothers you.

Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Sounds Now Too Loud for You?

Hypersensitive to Sound front coverIf some (or all) normal sounds seem so loud they “blow the top of your head off”, or make you wince or jump, or cause you headaches or ear pain, or affect your balance, or result in fear or annoyance of sounds so you feel you have to avoid these sounds, this book is for you!

Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Hearing Phantom Sounds?

When hard of hearing people begin hearing phantom voices or music, they immediately worry they are going crazy. It never crosses their minds that they are sane and are just experiencing Musical Ear syndrome.

To learn more about the strange phantom sounds of Musical Ear syndrome and what you can do about them, click here to read a comprehensive article about Musical Ear Syndrome.

Or get the book—Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Glossary Navigation

  • Full List of Glossary Terms
  • A to Z Index

Footer

Center for Hearing Loss Help

Neil G. Bauman, Ph.D.

1013 Ridgeway Drive, Lynden,
WA 98264-1057 USA

Email: neil@hearinglosshelp.com

Phone: 360-778-1266 (M-F 9:00 AM-5:00 PM PST)

© 2025 Center for Hearing Loss Help – Help for your hearing loss, tinnitus and other ear conditions

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life [which also includes perfect hearing] through Jesus Christ our Lord." [Romans 6:23]

"But know this, in the last days perilous times will come" [2 Timothy 3:1]. "For there will be famines, pestilences, and [severe] earthquakes in various places" [Matthew 24:7], "distress of nations, the sea and the waves roaring"—tsunamis, hurricanes—Luke 21:25, but this is good news if you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, for "when these things begin to happen, lift up your heads [and rejoice] because your redemption draws near" [Luke 21:28].