Krown sits atop hearing-impaired market
BY ELIZABETH BASSETT
Barbara Ander says her 8-year-old granddaughter is difficult to wake
up in the morning. Fortunately for Ander and perhaps unfortunately
for her granddaughter Krown Manufacturing makes alarm clocks that
will wake even the soundest of sleepers.
Since the alarm is attached to a bed shaker, Ander’s granddaughter
has a little extra nudge every morning her alarm goes off. The bed
shaker is a small device that is slipped under the mattress and then
physically buzzes someone awake.
With the bed shaker, she gets right out of bed, Ander said of her
granddaughter.
Krown Manufacturing Inc., owned by Ander and her husband, Sid Ander,
makes more than just alarm clocks. They also make alarm system
accessories and phone accessories. What makes the products unique is
that they are designed to alert people who are deaf or hard of
hearing, and Krown products are even being bought by the city of Fort
Worth to help what the Anders called an underserved population.
In addition to the bed shaker, the alarm clock, for example, can also
be attached to a lamp, which will flash in order to alert
light-sensitive people, or to a loud buzzer for the hearing impaired.
The Anders, who are both profoundly deaf, moved to Texas from New
York in 1979 and found it difficult to find equipment to help them do
everyday things, like make a phone call.
There was nothing available for the deaf and hearing impaired, said
Sid Ander.
The Anders took matters into their own hands when they founded
Compu-TTY Inc. in 1982, selling text telephones. In 1995, they bought
the company that made the text telephones, Krown Research, at the time
based in California. They then bought the company and moved it to
Texas. Products from Krown Manufacturing cost up to $6,000, depending
on the item.
An estimated 300,000 deaf or hard of hearing people are in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area, said Bryan Davis, the marketing and sales
director for the company and that number doesn’t include senior
citizens or others who have degenerating hearing.
There will always be a growing need and demand for these sorts of
products, Davis said. Not long ago, he said, he was in a store and
saw a young person with tiny earphones blaring loud music into his
ears.
I thought, ‘I’ll see you in about 20 years,’ Davis said.
Sid Ander said part of the reason he and Barbara Ander started
developing new products is because there was a potential not only to
make lives easier but also to save lives.
For example, Krown Manufacturing recently sold 44 alarm system sets
to the Fort Worth Fire Department, which will distribute them to
people who cannot hear traditional fire alarms.
The fire dept gives out smoke detectors to anybody who requests them
for free, said Dana Alden, management analyst for the Fort Worth Fire
Department. However, traditional alarms weren’t adequate for hearing
impaired people, so the department used a grant from Fireman’s Fund
Insurance Company to purchase the systems during Fire Prevention Week
in October.
Lt. Kent Worley, public information officer for the fire department,
saw a presentation about Krown Manufacturing’s products and how to
help alert the deaf and hard of hearing during fires at a Texas
Commission on Fire Protection meeting in the spring. Worley gave his
card to Rafael Torres, a sales representative and outreach
coordinator for the company, and Torres later gave another
presentation to the Fort Worth Fire Department.
Worley said that when the grant money was awarded, the Krown fire
alarm systems were still on his mind.
I think it’s going to be to the benefit to a segment of our
population that has been unintentionally overlooked by fire
prevention services, said Worley.
Those who call in to request fire detectors are also now asked if
there is anybody hard of hearing in the household to see whether a
Krown system would be appropriate for installation, Worley said.
The reason we did that is we may have a family where Grandpa lives
there, and he’s fine because he wears two hearing aids, but when he
goes to bed at night he takes them out, Worley said.
The systems consist of small transmitters, which can be stuck onto
traditional fire alarms, and then a receiver, which can be attached
to lights and bed shakers. Everything has battery back-ups, in case
the electricity goes out. Not only can the transmitters be used on
multiple fire alarms in one house, but they can also be used to alert
a person to a security system breach or carbon monoxide detector going
off elsewhere in the house.
Some people make a carbon monoxide detector with a light on it,
Ander said. What good does that do me? I don’t live in the garage.
Krown is also developing a handheld, pocket-sized dictionary for
American Sign Language. The patent is still pending on the device,
but a person can type in a word and then watch the screen as a man
demonstrates how to sign the word.
If you have to read the description of how to make the sign instead
of seeing someone do it, it takes you 10 times as long, Davis said.
The Krown headquarters has about a dozen employees, but that doesn’t
count the company’s manufacturers or distributors. There are about
six major dealers and distributors for Krown in Fort Worth, and their
reach goes far beyond Tarrant County. There are about 400 distributors
worldwide, including ones in New Zealand, Brazil, Israel, Portugal,
Russia and Costa Rica. Davis said there are plans to reach out to
Japan.
Our primary goal isn’t to grow this company. It’s to better people’s
lives to having equal access, Davis said.
Barbara Ander said being able to grow the company provides the
satisfaction of making what she and many others need and want in
their lives. Research and development in the industry as a whole used
to be minimal not too long ago, she said.
Everything was flat, Ander said. Now everything is booming. I am
so proud.
Link: http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=6877
—
BETTER IP RELAY – EVERYWHERE! i711.com makes all your relay calls better.
Better web calls. Better wireless calls. Better AIM calls. Why settle for
ordinary IP relay? Go beyond! Try http://www.i711.com for free today!
NEW! Try out our Deaf Network of Texas Calendar! Go to
http://calendar.deafnetwork.com
NOTE: deafnetwork.com does not endorse any of the products, vendors,
consultants, or documentation referenced in this message or. Any mention of
vendors, products, or services is for informational purposes only.
Powered by http://www.CrazyWebHosting.com
If you do not want to receive any more newsletters,
http://deafnetwork.com/list/?p=unsubscribe&uid=23e6b0ac27edebd2b6f52f1354859234
To update your preferences and to unsubscribe visit
http://deafnetwork.com/list/?p=preferences&uid=23e6b0ac27edebd2b6f52f1354859234
Forward a Message to Someone
http://deafnetwork.com/list/?p=forward&uid=23e6b0ac27edebd2b6f52f1354859234&mid=825
—
Powered by PHPlist, www.phplist.com —