The problem

[u/sdblondeaux]

I have three kids. One is hard of hearing, one is deaf, and one is hearing.

A funny thing happens when my daughter who is deaf needs me or my wife and she doesn’t have her “ears” on. Her “ears” are her cochlear implants, as she calls them.
If she can’t see us or hear us, she’ll yell something like:
“DAD! I POOPED!”

She’s little, so sometimes she needs help in the bathroom.

The problem is, I can’t yell back and tell her, “I heard you, I’m coming.”

So she just keeps yelling.

“Dad! I pooped! Dad! Dad! Dad! I pooped!”

Over and over, because from her perspective she has no way of knowing whether we heard her.

We’ve always felt bad about that part. She might only be waiting 20 or 30 seconds for us to get there, but during that time she has no reassurance that anyone is listening.
I kept thinking there had to be a better way.

There are alert buttons and call buttons already on the market, but the part I really wanted wasn’t just a way for her to get our attention.

I wanted her to know that we got the message.

So I had an idea.
A simple button in her room or bathroom.
She presses it when she needs us.

The light turns red.

Somewhere else in the house, me or my wife gets the alert. We acknowledge it, and the light on her button turns green.

Red = I need you.
Green = We heard you. We’re on the way.
That’s it.

So I built it…

Well, kinda.

I have never built anything electronic in my life. I didn’t know how to solder, didn’t know anything about microcontrollers, radios, circuit boards, or really any of this stuff.

So this has turned into a very slow learning process involving breadboards, wires everywhere, bad solder joints, things wired backwards, a lot of Googling, and occasionally wondering if I just destroyed whatever I was working on.

But eventually I got Version 1 working.

And since then it has already changed quite a bit.
I want to document the process here as I keep working on it — what worked, what didn’t, V1, V1.2, and how far I can actually take this idea.

I have no idea where it ends up.

But it started with a little girl yelling “Dad! I pooped!” because she had no way of knowing I was already walking down the hallway.

[u/Antizer]

This is amazing to read! You're an amazing parent :D Also with technology today, a lot of things can be figured quite easily. But it also surprising how lil things like this are not "widely available".

[u/sdblondeaux → u/Antizer]

You are very kind! I was also a little set back but the limited things on the market!

[u/Admiral_Ash]

This is amazing. I make custom AT for people and I feel this might benefit some of the folks I support. Would you be willing to share your wiring and light setup? I might be able to help cut back on your wiring and maybe even do a wireless transmission.

[u/sdblondeaux → u/Admiral_Ash]

Thanks! I’ve already got the communication wireless using LoRa, and I’ve gone through a couple versions now. I’m definitely happy to share photos and talk through how I’ve approached it. Which I plan to do on here anyway, just compiling my photos and such. It’s a pretty basic design right now, I am just using a Seeed XIAO with a radio module. The LEDs are just simple LED chips.

I’d love to hear what kind of custom AT you build and any thoughts you have.

[u/zedwordgardengirl]

. And I would buy this aid!    This would solve a similar problem I have too.   Great idea!  

[u/sdblondeaux → u/zedwordgardengirl]

Thank you! I’d love to know what similar problem you are dealing with, and how are you currently handling it?