Voice Alarm Systems
FPG is proud to work with leading names in the Voice Alarm industry. For more in-depth detail on the products and systems offered, please visit our downloads page.
Introduction to Voice Alarm
A voice alarm (VA) system is a means of alerting people to an emergency in a clear and unambiguous manner with the minimum of delay. In 1997, the British Standards Institution published DD 240: Fire safety engineering in buildings. Guide to the application of fire safety engineering principles, which recognised the benefits of such systems in reducing the time it takes people to respond in an alarm situation. Voice alarm messages were found to result in quicker recognition times than when sirens or bells were used, and live announcements were found to result in faster recognition times than recorded announcements.
In the UK and Europe, most VA systems use 100V loudspeaker systems connected to a central equipment rack. The rack(s) contains the audio inputs, message storage, routing and prioritising matrix, amplification and signal processing and the loudspeaker circuit outputs. Most loudspeaker monitoring systems use some sort of end of line device, although some return the loudspeaker circuit to the rack.
Apart from 100V loudspeaker circuits, there is very little cross-compatibility between manufacturers, and so it is normal to obtain the whole system, except perhaps the loudspeakers, from one supplier.
