DIY Smart Care Button for Dementia Care :: Zigbee + Alexa Setup for My Mom
на канале: Quiet Telemetry
Credits / Disclaimer:
The paging sound used in this video is inspired by the White Base alert from Mobile Suit Gundam (© Sotsu / Sunrise). It is included solely for non-commercial, personal demonstration purposes.
This video captures a functional test of a DIY care call system I built for my mother, who has dementia, allowing her to call for my assistance. When she presses any of the three Zigbee buttons installed at her bedside, her chair, or in the bathroom, the system triggers a coordinated notification sequence across the house. The Alexa devices downstairs (near her) announce in Japanese, while the ones upstairs (in my workspace) notify me in English.
Simultaneously, the home music streaming system (MPD + Snapcast) temporarily pauses any music to play a White Base–inspired alert sound, ensuring the call is never missed.
[[ HOW IT WORKS ]]
Trigger: Zigbee smart buttons (3 locations).
Voice Notification: Home Assistant triggers Alexa TTS via a custom Node.js webhook.
Audio Alert: Home Assistant manages the MPD (Music Player Daemon) state. If music is playing, it pauses, plays the alert sound, and then restores the previous state.
Redundancy: A Slack notification is also sent to my smartphone for when I am away from the house.
[[ SYSTEM OVERVIEW ]]
Smart Home Hub: Home Assistant
Controller: Node.js (Running on a local server)
Voice Interface: Amazon Alexa (via Alexa Media Player integration)
Audio System: MPD + Snapcast (Multi-room audio)
Network: Zigbee (via Zigbee2MQTT / ZHA)
[[ NOTES ]]
Technically, this could be achieved using only Home Assistant webhooks. However, since I already had a pre-existing Doorbell system running on Node.js, I integrated this paging system into that existing infrastructure for better maintainability and code reuse.
The background music used during the playback interruption demo was generated using Stable Audio.
[[ BACKGROUND ]]
The goal of this project is to provide my mother with a simple, reliable way to call for help while ensuring I can hear her from any room, even when I'm listening to music. Using familiar sounds and clear voice prompts helps bridge the gap between smart home technology and practical elderly care.