Lutron 783 Application Note

Application Note #783

Revision A

February 2021

Patient Room Pillow Speaker Integration
with Lutron Control Systems

Lutron systems help enhance the patient experience by providing patients control over their environment.
In many cases, patients in hospitals or long-term care facilities interact with their environment via the pillow speaker.
This app note describes the methods to integrate a pillow speaker into a Lutron lighting and shading control system.

System Components

There are multiple required components involved in a patient room control system:

• Pillow Speaker – provides the user interface for the patient

• Patient Station – connection point for the pillow speaker; provides signals to other devices (TV, lights, nurse call
station, etc.); this is made by a different manufacturer than the pillow speaker and is part of the overall nurse
call system

• Lighting System Interface – connects the patient station to the lighting control system

The diagram below shows a typical setup:

Pillow Speaker

To Nurse Call Station

Patient Station

x

Contact
Closure
outputs

Lutron
Contact
Closure

Interface

QS Link to Load Controllers

While this basic diagram is true for most scenarios, there can be wide variation in the specifics. For example: different
types of pillow speakers with differing button combinations may be used; different types of patient stations may be
used which provide different types of integration; different lighting control interfaces may be necessary for the proper
integration. This app note will provide details on some of the most common applications for contact-closure based pillow
speaker integration using Curbell MedicalT products as an example.

1 Customer Assistance — 1.844.LUTRON1

Application Note #783

System Components (continued)

In most cases, the patient station provides a contact closure, corresponding to various light or shade control buttons, to
the lighting system interface. These buttons are usually momentary, meaning they close when the button on the pillow
speaker is pressed, and open when it is released. A patient station will have one contact closure output for each light or
shade control button. Check documentation from the patient station manufacturer for specifics, including mapping of
buttons on the pillow speaker to specific contact closures.

In some cases, pillow speaker and patient station systems may provide a more sophisticated digital method of control,
such as using Ethernet or BACnet commands. In these cases, coordination between the pillow speaker manufacturer,
patient station manufacturer, and Lutron is required. These solutions are outside the scope of this app note.

Sequences of Operation

Depending on the client’s needs, there are a variety of configurations of pillow speakers a client may choose. The choice
of pillow speaker will determine the sequence of operation (SOO) that the system can support. The choice of Lutron
system will also determine what SOOs are supported; see the System Support section of this document for details.

The following are some common types of pillow speakers, along with typical supported SOOs, using a variety of Curbell
MedicalT designs. The number of buttons and configurations of pillow speakers from other manufacturers will vary:

One Button: Lights Only

This scenario provides a single contact-closure output from the pillow speaker to the lighting control system. While
usually used for one zone of control, as shown in the image, it may allow for control of multiple zones if scenes are used.
Typical supported SOOs include:

• Toggle lights (switch between 100% and off, for one or more zones)

• Toggle scenes (switch between a scene and off, for multi-zone spaces)

• Cycle dim (press and hold the button to toggle between dimming up to full and down to off)

• Scene sequence (step between high/medium/low light levels or scenes)

2 www.lutron.com/support

Application Note #783

Sequences of Operation (continued)

Two Buttons: Lights Only or Lights and Shades

This scenario provides two contact-closure outputs from the pillow speaker to the lighting control system. This is
typically used for two zones of lighting control, as shown in the image; however, based on the desired functionality,
additional SOOs could be supported using Button 1 / Button 2:

• Toggle zone 1 / toggle zone 2, shown on left

• Lights raise / lower (allowing patient to raise the lights from off, or lower them to off)

• Toggle scene

• Toggle lights / toggle shades (for rooms that have shades, using an open/stop/close/stop
“garage door style” function)

Note: Icons on image are illustrative only, if using other functions (e.g., shades) different icons

may be used.

Four Buttons: Lights and Shades

In this scenario, there are two buttons for lights, and two buttons for shades. This provides four contact closures from
the pillow speaker to the lighting control system. This is commonly used for two zones of light control, plus raise and
lower of shades, as shown. However, other SOOs could be supported:

• Toggle zone 1 / toggle zone 2 / shade raise / shade lower, shown on left

• Lights raise / lights lower / shade raise / shade lower

• Select scene / turn off / shade raise / shade lower

• Toggle zone 1 / toggle zone 2 / toggle shade 1 / toggle shade 2

• Lights raise / lights lower / toggle shade 1 / toggle shade 2

• Select scene / turn off / toggle shade 1 / toggle shade 2

Note: Icons on image are illustrative only, if using other functions (e.g., shades) different icons

may be used.

3 Customer Assistance — 1.844.LUTRON1