The time of smoke detection and loudness of the alarm sound received by occupants largely 
determine the effectiveness of smoke alarms in dwellings. This paper reports on research that
measured both of these for smoke alarms in the room of fire origin, hallways and in other rooms 
to help determine the benefits of smoke alarms in rooms rather than hallways, in more rooms 
than currently required, and interconnected rather than unconnected alarms. The results 
demonstrated significant benefits would be obtained with interconnected alarms in all rooms –
on average much faster detection and much more effective warning, particularly for “at risk”
people. It is expected that adoption of interconnected smoke alarms in all rooms of dwellings 
would result in significantly reduced fire fatalities.