Can Dogs Hear Beyond Deafness? A Vermont Farmer-Coder Thinks So—and He’s Asking for Your Help

I’m Dave Soulia, owner of FYIVT.com. When I’m not researching and writing articles, or out doing farm chores, I’m also programming in my spare time. As a former shelter manager of the Rutland County Humane Society and a lifelong dog owner, I’ve always had a desire to help dogs and their families.

This project? This one’s personal.

When my cattle dog Binky went deaf nearly two decades ago, I thought that was it for our conversations. But while testing tinnitus frequencies for my own ears one night, I noticed her head suddenly perk up. Despite being stone deaf in the human audible range, she could still hear something.

I repeated the test. Same response.

At the time, I didn’t have the programming chops—or the technology—to do anything with that discovery. It was 2005. Smartphones were just emerging, and the best I could manage was a vague plan for “someday.”

Fast forward 20 years. With modern smartphones and AI-powered development tools at my disposal, I’ve finally built what I wished existed for Binky back then: HiBuddy.

A Voice They Might Still Hear

HiBuddy isn’t just another “dog whistle” app. It uses single sideband modulation (SSB)—a technique that took me months of coding and countless iterations to perfect—to shift your actual voice commands into ultrasonic frequencies.

When you say “sit,” HiBuddy records your voice and modulates it up into the 8,000–15,000 Hz range. At playback, your dog hears your voice—not a generic tone—if they can still detect those frequencies.

It’s worth noting this won’t work for all dogs. My last girl, Bella, went completely deaf in her later years. No sound—audible or ultrasonic—reached her. But Binky proved to me that some dogs retain high-frequency hearing even after losing the ability to hear us normally.

And that’s what I want to help others discover.

Join Our HiBuddy Test Team

HiBuddy is entering its final testing phase, and I’m looking for 25 Android dog owners to help answer a big question:

Do some older dogs retain ultrasonic hearing after losing the ability to hear human voices?

As a tester, you’ll:
✅ Get the full version of HiBuddy free.
✅ Help refine the app before public release.
✅ Be part of the first crowd-sourced study on canine hearing retention.

📱 For now, testing is Android only (iOS is coming soon—we’ll need iOS testers then).

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How to Sign Up

It’s easy:

1. Go to goatbox.dev/hibuddy.
2. Try the simple on-page sound test to see if your dog responds to ultrasonic tones.
3. If they do, submit your email to claim one of 25 tester slots.

As soon as Google approves the app, confirmed testers will get an email with instructions.

Honest Expectations

This isn’t a magic fix. Some dogs will respond. Some won’t. That’s part of why this testing phase is so important—it’s as much a discovery process as it is a product launch.

I built HiBuddy because I wished I’d had something like this for Binky. Now I’d love to share it with others and maybe give them the chance I didn’t have 20 years ago.

If you’ve got a senior dog losing their hearing, visit goatbox.dev/hibuddy and find out if they might still hear your voice.

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Dave Soulia | FYIVT

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