Krown sits atop hearing-impaired market <\/p>\n
BY ELIZABETH BASSETT <\/p>\n
Barbara Ander says her 8-year-old granddaughter is difficult to wake
\nup in the morning. Fortunately for Ander \u0014 and perhaps unfortunately
\nfor her granddaughter \u0014 Krown Manufacturing makes alarm clocks that
\nwill wake even the soundest of sleepers. <\/p>\n
Since the alarm is attached to a bed shaker, Ander’s granddaughter
\nhas a little extra nudge every morning her alarm goes off. The bed
\nshaker is a small device that is slipped under the mattress and then
\nphysically buzzes someone awake. <\/p>\n
\u001cWith the bed shaker, she gets right out of bed,\u001d Ander said of her
\ngranddaughter. <\/p>\n
Krown Manufacturing Inc., owned by Ander and her husband, Sid Ander,
\nmakes more than just alarm clocks. They also make alarm system
\naccessories and phone accessories. What makes the products unique is
\nthat they are designed to alert people who are deaf or hard of
\nhearing, and Krown products are even being bought by the city of Fort
\nWorth to help what the Anders called an underserved population. <\/p>\n
In addition to the bed shaker, the alarm clock, for example, can also
\nbe attached to a lamp, which will flash in order to alert
\nlight-sensitive people, or to a loud buzzer for the hearing impaired.<\/p>\n
The Anders, who are both profoundly deaf, moved to Texas from New
\nYork in 1979 and found it difficult to find equipment to help them do
\neveryday things, like make a phone call. <\/p>\n
\u001cThere was nothing available for the deaf and hearing impaired,\u001d said
\nSid Ander. <\/p>\n
The Anders took matters into their own hands when they founded
\nCompu-TTY Inc. in 1982, selling text telephones. In 1995, they bought
\nthe company that made the text telephones, Krown Research, at the time
\nbased in California. They then bought the company and moved it to
\nTexas. Products from Krown Manufacturing cost up to $6,000, depending
\non the item. <\/p>\n
An estimated 300,000 deaf or hard of hearing people are in the
\nDallas-Fort Worth area, said Bryan Davis, the marketing and sales
\ndirector for the company \u0014 and that number doesn’t include senior
\ncitizens or others who have degenerating hearing. <\/p>\n
\u001cThere will always be a growing need and demand\u001d for these sorts of
\nproducts, Davis said. Not long ago, he said, he was in a store and
\nsaw a young person with tiny earphones blaring loud music into his
\nears.<\/p>\n
\u001cI thought, ‘I’ll see you in about 20 years,’\u001d Davis said. <\/p>\n
Sid Ander said part of the reason he and Barbara Ander started
\ndeveloping new products is because there was a potential not only to
\nmake lives easier but also to save lives. <\/p>\n
For example, Krown Manufacturing recently sold 44 alarm system sets
\nto the Fort Worth Fire Department, which will distribute them to
\npeople who cannot hear traditional fire alarms. <\/p>\n
\u001cThe fire dept gives out smoke detectors to anybody who requests them
\nfor free,\u001d said Dana Alden, management analyst for the Fort Worth Fire
\nDepartment. However, traditional alarms weren’t adequate for hearing
\nimpaired people, so the department used a grant from Fireman’s Fund
\nInsurance Company to purchase the systems during Fire Prevention Week
\nin October. <\/p>\n
Lt. Kent Worley, public information officer for the fire department,
\nsaw a presentation about Krown Manufacturing’s products and how to
\nhelp alert the deaf and hard of hearing during fires at a Texas
\nCommission on Fire Protection meeting in the spring. Worley gave his
\ncard to Rafael Torres, a sales representative and outreach
\ncoordinator for the company, and Torres later gave another
\npresentation to the Fort Worth Fire Department. <\/p>\n
Worley said that when the grant money was awarded, the Krown fire
\nalarm systems were still on his mind. <\/p>\n
\u001cI think it’s going to be to the benefit to a segment of our
\npopulation that has been unintentionally overlooked\u001d by fire
\nprevention services, said Worley. <\/p>\n
Those who call in to request fire detectors are also now asked if
\nthere is anybody hard of hearing in the household to see whether a
\nKrown system would be appropriate for installation, Worley said. <\/p>\n
\u001cThe reason we did that is we may have a family where Grandpa lives
\nthere, and he’s fine because he wears two hearing aids, but when he
\ngoes to bed at night he takes them out,\u001d Worley said. <\/p>\n
The systems consist of small transmitters, which can be stuck onto
\ntraditional fire alarms, and then a receiver, which can be attached
\nto lights and bed shakers. Everything has battery back-ups, in case
\nthe electricity goes out. Not only can the transmitters be used on
\nmultiple fire alarms in one house, but they can also be used to alert
\na person to a security system breach or carbon monoxide detector going
\noff elsewhere in the house. <\/p>\n
\u001cSome people make a carbon monoxide detector with a light on it,\u001d
\nAnder said. \u001cWhat good does that do me? I don’t live in the garage.\u001d <\/p>\n
Krown is also developing a handheld, pocket-sized dictionary for
\nAmerican Sign Language. The patent is still pending on the device,
\nbut a person can type in a word and then watch the screen as a man
\ndemonstrates how to sign the word. <\/p>\n
\u001cIf you have to read the description of how to make the sign instead
\nof seeing someone do it, it takes you 10 times as long,\u001d Davis said. <\/p>\n
The Krown headquarters has about a dozen employees, but that doesn’t
\ncount the company’s manufacturers or distributors. There are about
\nsix major dealers and distributors for Krown in Fort Worth, and their
\nreach goes far beyond Tarrant County. There are about 400 distributors
\nworldwide, including ones in New Zealand, Brazil, Israel, Portugal,
\nRussia and Costa Rica. Davis said there are plans to reach out to
\nJapan. <\/p>\n
\u001cOur primary goal isn’t to grow this company. It’s to better people’s
\nlives to having equal access,\u001d Davis said. <\/p>\n
Barbara Ander said being able to grow the company provides the
\nsatisfaction of making what she and many others need and want in
\ntheir lives. Research and development in the industry as a whole used
\nto be minimal not too long ago, she said. <\/p>\n
\u001cEverything was flat,\u001d Ander said. \u001cNow everything is booming. I am
\nso proud.\u001d<\/p>\n
Link: http:\/\/www.fwbusinesspress.com\/display.php?id=6877<\/p>\n
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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 \u0014 and perhaps unfortunately for her granddaughter \u0014 Krown Manufacturing makes alarm clocks that will…<\/p>\n