My 18 year old son is a profoundly deep sleeper. This alarm will not instill a will to get up but if there is some will the shaking and racket will eventually get a person up. I do worry about how many decibels this thing puts out. My son's bed is a captains bed so the vibration on the wood really is loud and so is the alarm. I hope it is a temporary learning device but he has to learn to get up on his own. Today he did!