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Silent Call Communications sells real attention-getters | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
George Elwell's awareness of the need to develop products for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community began when he asked his deaf brother-in-law how he knew if his house was on fire.
" 'When I smell the smoke,' " he recalled his relative saying.
Shocked, Elwell, a former General Motors engineer, began Silent Call Communications, a Waterford firm, 21 years ago. It grew to become a leading U.S. company that develops alerting devices and signals for the hearing- and vision-impaired, sometimes both.
Now, the company is expanding, with several new products, a larger network of distributors and a bigger target market of people who might benefit from alerting devices for many reasons -- such as sound sleepers who don't awaken to alarm clocks or people who work at home or outdoors and who want to be alerted when the doorbell or phone rings.
The company's newest device, launched last week, is called the Sidekick II Signature Series. It generates different vibrating signals or a light when it picks up sound or motion in telephones, doorbells, paging devices, smoke detectors and fire alarms within a 2,000-foot area, which are linked to the device with tiny transmitters.
The Sidekick device also can be placed under a mattress so it vibrates the bed when the alarm goes off.
Next year, the company plans to introduce a Silent touch wristwatch with signaling features. It registers a different vibration and icon for each device it monitors and can be placed in a charger to generate vibrations under a mattress to wake people up. The watch is expected to sell for about $225, Elwell said.
With about 3 million Americans with profound hearing impairment, and another 10 million with hearing loss, Elwell sees a growing market as the nation's population ages. He's also building into his products larger type and black and white design features to appeal to older people with both hearing and visual impairments.
His customers include the Carnival Cruise Line, the government of Canada and the State of Michigan's Commission for the Blind.
"We've sold them several million dollars' worth of products," Elwell said of Canada's national health system for hearing-impaired citizens.
Cindy Caldwell, a deaf/blind specialist with the Michigan Commission for the Blind, said she has worked with Elwell's company for about 20 years, buying devices for hearing and visually impaired people enrolled in vocational rehabilitation programs. "They just love" the devices, Caldwell said of her clients getting the equipment. She gives the company high marks for service.
Elwell even has visited worksites to help people use the equipment, she said. She added: "And it's a Michigan-based company."
Silent Call sells other products that alert people to carbon monoxide emissions, weather changes and unwanted movements through doors or windows, either by intruders or elderly people who might stray from home.
The company has 10 employees, including Elwell's wife and three children. As he expands overseas next year, he expects to hire more distributors to sell his products abroad. But he's committed to staying in Michigan.
Three years ago, helped with tax credits he received as a small business investing in technology, Elwell purchased two robots and committed to returning manufacturing of the company's products from overseas to Waterford.
"We have a great country and workforce and we have to stop taking business out of the country and building it here," Elwell said.
He credits his faith with the career change he made two decades ago.
"I wanted a stronger walk in my Christian faith," he said. He said he is gratified to hear from so many people that his company's products "have been a definite help in the deaf and deaf-blind community."
George Elwell's awareness of the need to develop products for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community began when he asked his deaf brother-in-law how he knew if his house was on fire.
" 'When I smell the smoke,' " he recalled his relative saying.
Shocked, Elwell, a former General Motors engineer, began Silent Call Communications, a Waterford firm, 21 years ago. It grew to become a leading U.S. company that develops alerting devices and signals for the hearing- and vision-impaired, sometimes both.
Now, the company is expanding, with several new products, a larger network of distributors and a bigger target market of people who might benefit from alerting devices for many reasons -- such as sound sleepers who don't awaken to alarm clocks or people who work at home or outdoors and who want to be alerted when the doorbell or phone rings.
The company's newest device, launched last week, is called the Sidekick II Signature Series. It generates different vibrating signals or a light when it picks up sound or motion in telephones, doorbells, paging devices, smoke detectors and fire alarms within a 2,000-foot area, which are linked to the device with tiny transmitters.
The Sidekick device also can be placed under a mattress so it vibrates the bed when the alarm goes off.
Next year, the company plans to introduce a Silent touch wristwatch with signaling features. It registers a different vibration and icon for each device it monitors and can be placed in a charger to generate vibrations under a mattress to wake people up. The watch is expected to sell for about $225, Elwell said.
With about 3 million Americans with profound hearing impairment, and another 10 million with hearing loss, Elwell sees a growing market as the nation's population ages. He's also building into his products larger type and black and white design features to appeal to older people with both hearing and visual impairments.
His customers include the Carnival Cruise Line, the government of Canada and the State of Michigan's Commission for the Blind.
"We've sold them several million dollars' worth of products," Elwell said of Canada's national health system for hearing-impaired citizens.
Cindy Caldwell, a deaf/blind specialist with the Michigan Commission for the Blind, said she has worked with Elwell's company for about 20 years, buying devices for hearing and visually impaired people enrolled in vocational rehabilitation programs. "They just love" the devices, Caldwell said of her clients getting the equipment. She gives the company high marks for service.
Elwell even has visited worksites to help people use the equipment, she said. She added: "And it's a Michigan-based company."
Silent Call sells other products that alert people to carbon monoxide emissions, weather changes and unwanted movements through doors or windows, either by intruders or elderly people who might stray from home.
The company has 10 employees, including Elwell's wife and three children. As he expands overseas next year, he expects to hire more distributors to sell his products abroad. But he's committed to staying in Michigan.
Three years ago, helped with tax credits he received as a small business investing in technology, Elwell purchased two robots and committed to returning manufacturing of the company's products from overseas to Waterford.
"We have a great country and workforce and we have to stop taking business out of the country and building it here," Elwell said.
He credits his faith with the career change he made two decades ago.
"I wanted a stronger walk in my Christian faith," he said. He said he is gratified to hear from so many people that his company's products "have been a definite help in the deaf and deaf-blind community."