elio

Calming audio. Designed for your dog. Made with your voice.

A Day with Elio

Five Households, Five Tracks

Anna & Juno, 3-year-old beagle

Anna's flat is on a busy street, and Juno reacts to everything — buses, bikes, the neighbors' door. Beagles hear mid-range frequencies unusually well, which makes a noisy building harder to live in. Juno's music is shaped around that sensitivity: slow, steady, built for the range where her hearing is sharpest, so the street doesn't get there first. Anna turns Elio on when she heads out to help Juno stay settled in the city.

Ines & Charlie, 11-year-old lab

Charlie is eleven, and like most older dogs he's lost some of his hearing. While Ines is at the office, Elio shifts her voice lower in Charlie's track — into the range he can still hear clearly — and pairs it with something slow and unhurried that best suits a senior dog. As Charlie continues to age, Elio will continue to adapt to his needs.

Matt, Emily & Scout, 2-year-old rescue mix*

Scout spent his first year in a shelter and still gets distressed when the house empties. Both Matt and Emily created recordings for Elio, so when they leave for work in the morning, Scout's track carries two familiar voices instead of one. The music is gentler than what a less anxious dog might hear — slower, more sustained — and to Scout, the room still sounds like they might be home.

Jules & Rosie, 5-year-old cavalier + Bear, 8-year-old poodle mix*

Two dogs means two breeds, two ages, and two temperaments. Rosie is younger and more anxious; Bear is older and calmer. Elio composes for both — building their tracks around what they share, shaped by whoever needs attention most. Jules puts it on after their afternoon walk before heading out for the evening, helping keep things calm while she's away.

Tom & Milo, 4-year-old French bulldog*

Tom works from home most days, with Milo usually sound asleep under the desk. But when Tom runs out for coffee or an errand, the quiet house can make Milo feel restless. A quick, “Alexa, play Elio,” on the way out starts the day's track, and as usual it'll be one Milo's never heard before. Elio delivers eight hours of new music every day, so Milo never hears the same thing twice.

*Alexa, multi-voice households, and support for up to four dogs exclusive to subscribers.

Hear what yours sounds like →

The Science Behind Elio

Dogs hear your voice differently than people do. They're significantly more sensitive to the tones that carry its unique texture — that audible quality that makes you sound like you.1Research has shown that a familiar voice can reduce stress in a way that's equivalent to a warm hug,2and it's not the words spoken that matter, but rather the sound of the person they're bonded to.

Elio's patent-pending process places your voice into instrumental music at a level designed for that sensitivity — present to your dog; a gentle sound of warmth to you. Informed by over two decades of peer-reviewed research into how dogs respond to audio, Elio's music is composed around which tempos settle them, which tonal structures hold their attention, and what happens when they hear the same music over and over.3

That last point matters. Dogs habituate to repetitive audio quickly — within days, a playlist on repeat becomes just as stale to your dog as it would be to you.4That's why every track Elio delivers is compositionally distinct from the one before.

The music also adapts to your dog's specific needs. A dog who gets anxious when the house empties will hear something different from a dog who overreacts to street noise or thunder — different tempos, different textures, a different pacing of your voice throughout each track.5And because dogs gradually lose the higher end of their hearing as they age — much the way people do — Elio's music shifts over time to meet them where they are.6

That's Elio.

Grounded in behavioral science and psychoacoustics. Not a medical device.

  1. 1Heffner, 1983; Lipman & Grassi, 1942; Guérineau et al., 2024. Dogs detect sounds in the 4–8 kHz range at thresholds 13–19 dB lower than humans.
  2. 2Seltzer, Ziegler & Pollak, 2010. A mother's voice over the phone triggered oxytocin release and cortisol reduction equivalent to physical touch — prosodic quality, not linguistic content, drove the response. Gábor et al., 2021 (canine fMRI: owner voice activates reward circuitry); Shin & Shin, 2016 (recorded owner voice attenuated cortisol during separation); Rukstalis & French, 2005 (familiar voice recordings reduced cortisol in primates).
  3. 3 McConnell, 1991; Wells et al., 2002; Kogan et al., 2012; Bowman et al., 2015, 2017; Lindig et al., 2020.
  4. 4 Bowman et al., 2015. Calming effects of a single repeated classical playlist disappeared by day 7, with measurable decline from day 2.
  5. 5Elio profiles each dog's behavioral state during setup. Dogs experiencing separation distress, noise reactivity, understimulation, or general contentment each receive differently composed music — tempo, harmonic density, and voice cadence are all shaped by the dog's needs.
  6. 6 Ter Haar et al., 2008, 2009. Age-related hearing loss in dogs begins at approximately 8–10 years, concentrated in the high-frequency range where they hear best.

Your voice is in the music →

Playing Elio

Use whatever device stays home.

Your podcast app

New tracks download every morning — just press play on your computer, tablet, or old phone before you head out, and play through any connected speaker. Works with Apple Podcasts, Overcast, and Pocket Casts.

Alexa

Just say “Alexa, play Elio,” and that day's track will automatically load and play. That's it.

Any browser*

Open Elio's web player on a computer, tablet, or any device with a browser that you're leaving behind. Press play.

*For the most reliable experience while you're away, we recommend the podcast app or Alexa. The web player depends on the device staying awake and connected.

Try it for $5 →

Two ways to start with Elio

A Single Track

$5 / one time

One personalized 4-hour downloadable track with your voice woven through

  • • Your voice, only your dog can hear
  • • Calming music matched to your dog's breed, age, and temperament
  • • Download and keep forever
Make a track for your dog

Applies towards any subscription

Daily Tracks

$20 / month

Monthly (default) / Annual ($200/year — ☀️ 2 months free)

Eight hours of fresh music every day, with your voice woven through

  • • New tracks daily so your dog never tunes out
  • • Your voice, only your dog can hear
  • • Podcast, Alexa, or web player
  • • Every voice in your home, woven in
  • • Up to four dogs on a single subscription
Start daily tracks

Cancel anytime

Questions about Elio

“How does my voice end up in the music?”
During setup, you'll be asked to read through a short passage designed to capture the full richness of your voice. That one recording is all it takes. From there, Elio weaves distinct elements of your tone into every track it composes for your dog, at a level shaped just for their hearing. Anything resembling a voice won't be audible to you — instead, you'll just feel a gentle warmth underneath the music.
“What happens to my voice recording?”
It's used to create your dog's audio and nothing else. Never shared, never sold, never used to train anything. Re-record whenever you like, or delete it from your account at any time with two clicks. Read our full commitment to your privacy here →
“Will this work for my dog?”
Dogs recognize their owner's voice and respond to it differently than any other sound — that's research that's been well established for over two decades. Elio composes music around your dog's breed, age, and temperament, at tempos and in tonal ranges matched to canine hearing. The $5 single track is there so you can try it yourself before committing to a subscription (and is yours to keep).
“How will I know it's working?”
Most dogs settle into Elio within the first couple of weeks. After your first week, we'll check in and ask how things are going — and your feedback directly shapes how Elio continues to compose for your dog. Don't be surprised if after a while your dog doesn't seem as excited to see you when you get home. That just means Elio is working the way it should, keeping a calming piece of you behind while you're away.
“What if I have more than one dog?”
Elio supports up to four dogs on a single account, either with the single track or a subscription, and Elio will compose tracks suited to all of them. The audio will be shaped to whichever dog needs the most care, so it suits the most sensitive ear in the house. Take one dog out with you and the track will still work beautifully for whoever stays home.
“Can other people in my household record their voice too?”
Yes — with a subscription, up to four people in the household can each record their voice. The more familiar voices woven into the track, the more it sounds like home to your dog when no one's there.
“What does a subscription to Elio include?”
  • • Eight hours of new music every day — composed for your dog, carrying your voice, and never the same track twice.
  • • Alexa playback alongside an auto-updating podcast feed.
  • • Support for up to four dogs and four voices in a single household.
  • • Your $5 trial track purchase applies towards your first month's subscription.
  • • Cancel anytime.

More questions? Get in touch →

Make a track for your dog →