Total NEWB in need of advice...

[keyframe]

Hi There!
I'd like to constuct some sort of visual aid for my deaf co-worker to let him know that we'd like to get his attention. My initial thoughts were to take a wireless doorbell transmitter and hook it up to some sort of LED or light receiver. Ideally, I'd like to construct it so 4-5 different people can "page" our deaf friend. I envision him having some sort of panel with 5 LED's (each with the name of one of the other co-workers), and the co-workers would have transmitters, each operating on a frequency that was specific to their labelled name on our deaf friend's panel.
Admittedly, I know practically nothing about how to go about achieving this, but I was hoping that you gurus could give me some hints, or point me in the right direction.
I was thinking "wireless dorbell" because of the "wireless" action, and the convenience of a relatively small "button"-type transmitter.
I'm still unsure about what to use for the visual panel.
All ideas would be greatly appreciated.

btw, maximum range would be about 35 feet.

Thanks,
-steve

 

[Sceadwian]

The maximum range would be significantly larger and the device itself would be more flexible.
Use an alphanumreic pager in vibrate mode...
There are free in-between services set up to take voice calls from hearing people and forward TTY or other services to otherwise hearing impared persons. Check your local phone book listings for the proper intermediary services, or your local cell phone company for text messaging services...

 

[keyframe]

Thanks for the reply, Sceadwian.
While that is a very good idea, I was hoping for something a bit simpler, and something that wouldn't necessitate people dialing a phone number. Pushing a single button in this case would be easier, and I think a colored LED display would be more attractive for our co-worker than a pager vibrating on his desk.
Do you have any suggestions about how to implement the original idea? I'm not ungrateful at all for your input, and I don't mean it to sound that way. I'm just hoping to get my original idea to work.

Thanks,
-steve