Christina Hunger is a speech pathologist in San Diego, California who is developing a way to allow her dog to communicate using a soundboard.
Hunger developed a board of over 20-sound buttons for her dog, Stella, to press, allowing Hunger to know what Stella wants. Stella communicates when she wants to eat, go outside, play with her ball, etc. Hunger says Stella even uses the “Look” button to get her attention before relaying another message.
“Like any great communicator, Stella is making sure she has our attention while she talks. She doesn’t want to be talking to an empty room! She frequently says “look,” waits for us to turn toward her then says her message, checks behind her to see if we’re paying attention, or vocalizes right before she uses her device.”
