If anyone in your home has some hearing loss, they may have trouble hearing basic smoke alarms, because the sound they emit is high pitched. Now imagine if that person were asleep when the alarm goes off. Would it wake them? Consider these alternatives:
Vibrate or Shaker Smoke Alarms. These use a vibrating device to shake a bed or chair to awaken and alert you of fire.
A strobe smoke alarm. Strobe Alarms use an extra bright strobe light to alert you of fire. Some strobe alarms also include a vibrator device.