Most children are likely to sleep through standard smoke alarms, a new study suggests.

Just 28 per cent of youngsters were woken up by the sound of an alarm in their home in an experiment by researchers and the fire service.

They said manufacturers should be telling parents of the risk that sleeping children may not hear the alarm.

It found children respond better to different tones and frequencies than are currently in standard alarms.

For example, an alarm tested using a lower frequency sound combined with a voice recording woke more than 75 per cent of the children.

The University of Dundee study carried out the experiment on 644 kids.

Forensic scientist, Professor Niamh Nic Daeid, said: “Current smoke alarms are not very good at waking up children.”