09/09/2026
KENNEBUNK – A Cape Elizabeth teenager with no programming experience has built an app that promises to help deaf and hard-of-hearing people stay safe during an emergency.
The app, ALRM, is now available in app stores for Apple and Android phones, and is already drawing interest and praise from Maine’s deaf community and the Maine Turnpike Authority. “The ability to communicate in a world where everybody’s a hearing person is challenging,” said Margaret Myatt, vice president of the Down East Maine chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America. “For a tool like this, it’s a no-brainer.”
The app, when activated inside special zones, will use the phone’s microphone to listen to the surrounding environment, scanning for loud noises that could indicate an emergency, such as the piercing shriek of a home smoke detector and even gunshots.
If the app detects something, it sends a vibration through the phone to the user, and posts an alert on the screen.
Gavin Phelan created the app. At 16, he is about to enter his junior year at Cape Elizabeth High School. He said he was inspired in part by the mass shooting in Lewiston in 2023, where a gunman killed 18 people, four of them deaf or hard of hearing.
Phelan said he started looking into safety issues for the deaf and hard of hearing, and discovered a frightening reality.
“Ultimately what I found was that everywhere there’s a gap in accessibility, and the worst part is that no one’s doing anything about it,” he said. He was only 14 at the time, and knew nothing about coding. However, with the help of artificial intelligence tools, he was able to construct a number of prototypes. When asked how many, he said, “I’ve had countless at this point, too many to count.”
Users can download the free app and create a home zone, so the app can listen when they are at home. Myatt said it makes her feel safer. “Can I hear my home fire alarm? I don’t know,” she said. “There’s been times when I have not, but if I have this next to my bed, and it vibrates, it makes all the difference in the world.”
The next step, Phelan said, is to establish public zones where users can turn on the app and trust it will listen to their surroundings for them, and give them an alert if something seems to be wrong.
On Friday, officials at the Maine Turnpike Authority announced the first official public zone for the app, covering the service plazas on both sides of Interstate 95 in Kennebunk. Andrew Briere, the authority’s executive director, said with vehicles passing through both plazas from all 50 states, it made sense to give app users a chance to try it out there.
“This is a real-world, I think, operational stress test for this app,” he said.
Phelan said he hopes there will be more public zones to follow.
“My goal at the end of the day is just make the world a more accessible place, so I’m hoping this will be a part of that,” he said.
Myatt said she thinks the app will take off, and soon be used publicly all over the country. “An app like this? It’s going to fly,” she said.
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/me/maine/human-interest/2026/09/04/cape-elizabeth-teen-designs-app-to-help-those-who-can-t-hear-in-an-emergency
Download App IOS or Android: https://www.getalrm.com/
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Florida Independent Living Council, Inc. Florida Association of Centers for Independent Living IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area Impact100 of Northwest Florida, Inc. Northwest Florida Area Agency on Aging, Inc. Florida Division of Blind Services Florida Agencies Serving the Blind Florida Department of Elder Affairs
The Arc Gateway PALS FAAST, Inc. Disability Rights Florida United Way of West Florida National Association of the Deaf - NAD Administration for Community Living
The app delivers alerts to users when it hears noises that suggest an emergency.
