Company History
The Accidental Discovery That Might Save Your Life
It was 1999 and Dr. David Albert—a physician, scientist, inventor, and technology entrepreneur—was at home working on a wireless heart monitor he planned to use during upcoming surgery for his young daughter Kathryn. While watching over his shoulder she happened to notice that an upstairs smoke alarm was chirping—a telltale sign the battery needed to be replaced. Dr. Albert took a short break to go up and change the battery on the alarm, leaving Kathryn with the heart monitor. With the new battery in place, he pressed the test button to make sure the alarm was functioning correctly.
That's when 13-year-old Kathryn made the discovery that led to the development of the state-of-the-art, lifesaving technology inside the Lifetone HL Bedside Fire Alarm and Clock.
She noticed the heart monitoring device had "heard" the smoke alarm signal.
Kathryn's accidental discovery lit up her father's curious, inventive mind. As a research scientist and biomedical engineer he began exploring what this discovery meant. Could the ability to detect a smoke alarm somehow be helpful to people? Could the technology be developed to do so reliably—and at the same time be able to "ignore" other high frequency sounds?
A Passion for Keeping People Out of Harm's Way
Over the next three years Dr. Albert worked diligently to develop the technology and was awarded numerous patents (he now holds 22 US patents and has 23 more pending). In 2004 Dr. Albert founded InnovAlarm™ to begin work on commercial applications and to continue his work on developing lifesaving alarming devices. Lifetone Technology was formed in 2008 specifically to bring the concept of a bedside fire alarm to market.
Dr. Albert recognized that with his patented technology he could make a dramatic difference in saving the lives of people who are at risk of not waking up to standard smoke alarms. These at risk groups include people who are hearing impaired, children, older adults, heavy sleepers, those who use sleep medications, and people who sometimes fall asleep under the influence of alcohol.
Research sponsored by the US Fire Administration has demonstrated that people in these groups may not wake easily—or not wake at all—to the 3100 Hz alarm signal used in standard smoke alarms. Yet such smoke alarms are already installed in more than 95% of all US homes. By using his patented technology for detecting standard smoke alarm signals, he could enable people to continue to use their existing smoke alarms to detect fire while at the same time benefiting from superior alarm signals proven more effective at waking people in a fire emergency. Lifetone's first product, the Lifetone HL Bedside Fire Alarm and Clock, became available to the public in the United States in April, 2009.
Lifetone Technology’s Mission is to continue to develop and market proprietary, code-compliant products which provide improved alarming and alerting capability in response to emergencies as compared to existing solutions. The company is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with administrative offices in Oakbrook Terrace in suburban Chicago.
Lifetone HL: for the most important wake-up call you'll ever get.