How to Wake a Deaf Person

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Last Updated: December 19, 2024

Waking up in the morning is challenging for most people. The alarm clock rings, hit snooze a few times, and finally crawl out of bed to start your day. The hard of hearing have their own set of challenges of trying to wake up in the morning. Since they do not have the sense of hearing, they must rely on different means to get their day started. With a little help from you, along with technology, the use of other senses, and even a trained hearing dog, the hard of hearing now have many ways to successfully get up and start their day in the morning.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Waking a Deaf Person Naturally

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1
Use their sense of smell. The sense of smell is very sensitive to the aromas of food and other fragrances. Make something sweet in the morning and the nose will arouse the body to discover what smells so delicious.
- Prepare scented tea or strong coffee in the morning. A whiff is sure to motivate them to get out of bed and enjoy a tasty cup-o-Joe or herbal tea.
- Fill the room with one of their favorite scents. Try citrus smells or one of a variety of popular aerosols used for refreshing the smell of a room.
- Bake or fry a sweet or bitter dish. Few people can resist the smell of home cooked food.
- Deliver breakfast in bed. They might not get out of bed, but they will certainly wake up.
2
Use their sense of feeling. Whether you need to gently shake the bed, body, pillow, or have natural sunlight hit their face, the sense of touch is another good way to help a deaf or hard of hearing person get up in the morning.
- A spouse, parent, child, or roommate can carry out this task if they are reliable. They should take seriously waking up a deaf/hard of hearing friend or family member.
- Try flashing the bedroom lights on and off quickly to get their attention.
- Pull back the drapes to let sunlight hit them in the face or on their body.
- If all else fails, give them a light tap on the arm or gently shake their shoulder until they wake up.
- Remember, just because you are performing this task as a favor, don’t be rude, insulting, or impatient with your responsibility. Refrain from splashing cold water on their face, whipping off their covers, or pushing them out of the bed. It will only cause resentment.
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3
Get a trained hearing dog. You might be busy getting ready in the morning or perhaps your schedules don’t match up and you are unavailable to help out in the morning. In this case, consider getting a trained hearing dog to perform the duty of wake-up call. Hearing dogs are trained to assist deaf or hard of hearing people by physically alerting their partner to common sounds like an alarm clock.^{[1]
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- When the alarm sounds, the hearing dog will nudge their body until they wake up and shut off the alarm.
- Hearing dogs can also be used by people who are hard of hearing, use sign language, or are non-verbal.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Waking a Deaf Person with Technology

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1
Purchase a strong vibrating alarm clock. You can purchase a strong vibrating accessory that connects to an alarm clock and vibrates when the alarm goes off.^{[2]
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- When the alarm clock goes off, the device will shake the bed to wake up the hard of hearing!
- Manufacturers also make “pillow vibrators,” which shakes the pillow when the alarm clock rings.
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Purchase a strobe light alarm clock. If you want to help a deaf or hard of hearing person, get them a strobe light that they can attach to their alarm clock.^{[3]
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- When the alarm sounds, strong strobe lights will flash in the direction of the bed.
- For safety, combine the vibrating accessory with the strobe light to better guarantee waking up on time.
Before going to bed, have them set their cell phone to vibrate. Then, have them sleep with the phone either under their pillow or held in their hand. In the morning, call them and the phone will vibrate, waking them up.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Waking Up if You’re Deaf

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1
Get into a rhythm. You will need to program your body to wake up the same time every day. Even on days that you don’t need to get up for work or send the kids to school.^{[4]
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- Starting out you will need somebody to wake you up at the same time every day for about one week to set your physiological process, which is called the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is a natural 24-hour cycle that regulates the body.
- Decide how many of hours of sleep your body generally needs. This is important, because, in order for this to work, you have to go bed and wake up at the same time every day.
- You will have to wean yourself away from having somebody else wake you up every day. Try to keep your schedule consistent so that you wake up at the same time. A good practice is to wake up every other day at the same time successfully before letting the other person go.
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Use your senses. Since the loss of one sense makes the other senses stronger, use them to your advantage for waking up every morning. Letting your mind wake up by responding to your other senses is a natural way to wake up.
- Sleep near an open window so that sunlight hits your face in the morning. You will have to position your bed so that the light hits your face around the time you want to wake up. This will require the periodic movement of your bed throughout the year.
- The sleeping body is sensitive to temperature change so set the timer for your thermostat to turn on about an hour before wake-up time. The dramatic change in early morning temperature will arouse your body to awaken. Try to coordinate this with sunlight hitting your face.
- If you drink coffee, let your nose wake you up. Set the coffee maker’s timer to begin making coffee a few minutes prior to wake-up time. The strong smell of coffee will wake you up.
- You can always use the sensation of having to urinate to wake up naturally. Drink lots of water before going to bed and you will be sure to wake up punctually.
3
Set your mental alarm. Motivate or give yourself a reason to wake up in the morning. If you know you have to wake up for school at six o’clock in the morning, your body will release adrenocorticotropin in high concentrations to get your body awake. The body’s internal clock can be relatively accurate with some patience and practice.^{[5]
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- Being healthy is essential to accomplishing your goal of waking up. Your body will respond better to mental and physical cues when healthy as compared to a diet that makes you sleepy or groggy from lots of sugar and fat. Drinking too much caffeine can also disrupt the sleep cycle.
- The sleep cycle repeats itself in ninety-minute intervals. Calculate how many hours and what time you want to wake up by using multiples of ninety. It is easier to wake up towards the end of the cycle than in the middle of it.
- Another experimental method to try is visualizing your wake up time. Thinking to yourself “I will wake up at…” has shown that people were able to relative wake up around the time they visualized.