Although anecdotal evidence would suggest otherwise, the results from the lab indicate that a parent’s voice is more effective at waking a sleeping youngster than an impersonal bleep, bloop, or blonk. If you’re the kind of parent who would rather not let your children die in a house fire, perhaps you should invest in the KidSmart Vocal Smoke Detector.

It lets you record a custom emergency message in your own voice (or somebody else’s voice, we suppose), instructing your groggy tot on exactly how to get the hell out of the building for God’s sake. If you prefer the vintage electronic sound of the regular old smoke-alarm beeps, it’ll emit those instead. Either way, you can angle the speaker at the child’s pillow. If you’re still skeptical about the KidSmart Vocal Smoke Detector, remember: they don’t give out the 2006 Industrial Design Excellence Award to just anybody.

Maybe they do, actually. It’s not like we’re experts in the nominating process.

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