Voice alarm system
A voice alarm system (SAA) is part of a public address system (ELA). It takes care of the acoustic notification of an upcoming alarm , not the detection of alarm conditions or the reporting of an alarm.
Areas of application
A voice alarm system can be used in buildings for emergency situations in order to induce people to evacuate an area quickly and in an orderly manner.
If a fire is detected by a corresponding sensor system and reported via a corresponding system, specific information, such as instructions on how to behave, can be passed on to the persons or groups concerned with the help of a voice alarm system in order to shorten the perception time and at the same time the risk of panic and to ensure an orderly evacuation .
Trigger
A voice alarm in the public address system (ELA) can be triggered manually or by a fire alarm system. This is done automatically and controlled. If a voice alarm is provided, it is subject to similar safety requirements as those of the BMA (DIN VDE 0833-4, DIN EN 54-16, DIN EN 54-24, DIN EN 54-2, DIN 14675: 2012-04).
advantages
- Reduction of the reaction time for people at risk
- Announcement of clear instructions for the next action steps and targeted behavior and evacuation instructions
- Emergency announcements can be made in several languages
- False alarms or false alarms can be specifically revoked in order to restore the normal state
Alarm signals (horns or sirens) attract attention, but cannot pass on regulated information. Hence, they are either ignored or misinterpreted.
Phases according to DIN 14675
The DIN 14675 distinguishes the various fields of activity for the construction and operation of a voice alarm system in phases. The specialist company for voice alarm systems (engineering office / specialist planner or specialist installer) who would like to be certified according to DIN 14675 must decide after which phases certification should be sought. In the technical connection conditions, certification is often required of the planner and installer.
| Phase 1 | Phase name |
|---|---|
| 6.1 | planning |
| 6.2 | Project planning |
| 7th | Assembly |
| 8th | Commissioning |
| 9 | Decrease |
| 11 | maintenance |
One is mostly used as a multiplier judge certification sought for all phases, as planners is only a certification according to the phases 6.1 and 6.2 make sense. In order to be able to offer the manufacturer-neutral planning (preparation of the tender) as well as the construction supervision and the planning in the existing building (e.g. for large customers the expansion or the conversion) as non-manufacturer-neutral planning, a certification according to DIN 14675 after the phases 6.1 and 6.2 absolutely necessary.
Speech quality requirements
Fire announcements must be short, clear and understandable. Speech intelligibility is therefore a complex requirement for an SAA. Multilingual announcements must also be taken into account. With today's architectural style (e.g. glass, steel, concrete, smooth surfaces) there are very often unfavorable room acoustic conditions. Suitable measurements are essential here. The following factors must be taken into account:
- Background noise level in the event of an alarm (e.g. crowd)
- Direct sound level that can be generated by the SAA itself
- Reverberation level of the alarm area (reverberation time and room volume)
- Settings of the system itself