That's a concern for David Barnes, emergency management coordinator for Edmond, as well as officials in other cities. At present, besides the traditional storm sirens which don't help deaf or hearing-impaired people cities don't have reliable ways to reach the deaf segment of the population. That could be one possible solution for that city. Yukon and other area cities also are considering similar types of calling systems. The dilemma of reaching deaf and hearing-impaired people during weather emergencies also bothers Bim Wood, a research meteorologist for the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman.
Wood is deaf.
That's a concern for myself and other deaf people. These radios have the ability to activate strobe lights or bed vibrators that wake a deaf person during the night when a weather warning is issued. Once the person is awakened, most of even the special-needs radios still broadcast only a radio signal, which a deaf person can't hear. So they would have to turn on a television to read the closed-captioning for warnings. But a new product soon to be available in Oklahoma will give deaf and hearing-impaired users warnings in text form after waking them with a loud alarm or flashing lights.