A delighted toddler holding the terracotta Sona device, looking up as a familiar voice plays

Try it before it exists

Your child's first words, in your voice

Name: Sona
Brand: Sona

A small, screen-light device that teaches toddlers to talk in the voices of the people who love them. You, or a grandparent an ocean away.

Hear it in your voice How it works

No sign-up to try it. No microphone, no cloud, no ads.

How it works

You set the voice up once. After that the device runs on its own, fully offline. No app to open every day, and nothing for your child to get lost in.

Record once

You, or a grandparent on the other side of the world, read a short script. About twenty seconds, from any phone.

We build their voice

Every word in your child's library is rebuilt in that voice. Said naturally first, then slowed syllable by syllable, at a pace you set.

It just plays

On the device, one word and picture at a time. No feed, no ads, no autoplay. It keeps working with the wifi off.

Fully offline in daily use No microphone listening No camera. No data on your child

Meet the device

Screen-light, palm-sized, built to be handled by small hands. It comes in three colours, so pick the one that fits your home.

The Sona device in terracotta, its screen showing a word split into syllables

Terracotta

What twenty seconds unlocks

One short recording becomes a whole library of first words, in a voice your child already loves.

Every word, slowed into syllables at a pace you set.

Sona curates the words your child is ready for, over 2,000 per language, and rebuilds every one in your recorded voice. It slows each into syllables at a pace you set, so it meets your child exactly where they are in learning to talk. Add another language and many of those words carry across, building on the first. No app to run day to day, no screens to get lost in. Nothing else does this.

This is the part we can't explain in words

Press play to hear it in Tom's voice, or record twenty seconds and hear it in your own. Then set the pace yourself.

Pause between sounds

Slide the pace, then press play. That pause is your child's window to catch the sound and try it back. On the real device, you set it.

Now playing: Tom's voice

Read this aloud, in your normal voice:
"My little one is just learning to talk, and I love hearing every new word they try. We say them slowly, together, morning and night, and every little sound feels like a small step forward."

Your browser will ask to use the mic. Nothing records until you press the button.

Your recording is used once to make your words, then discarded. Nothing is stored, no copy is kept, and nothing trains anything.

The whole idea

A voice they already know, one small word at a time

At their pace

The word, then each syllable

Said naturally, then slowed apart, at a pause you set on the dial.

A toddler holding the Sona device to their ear, listening

A parent and toddler laughing together with the device

Calm by design

One word, one picture. No feed, no autoplay, no ads.

A small hand and a parent's hand on the device dial

Fully offline

No microphone. No camera.

Voices that travel

Keep the people they love in the room

Mum, away for work. Grandpa, an ocean away. Record once, from any phone, and their voice teaches your child their first words, in a language you might otherwise lose.

A parent and toddler laughing together as the child holds the Sona device

Why we built it

Our son struggled to grow his vocabulary and to articulate his sounds, alongside a series of ongoing hearing diagnoses. The early words most children pick up by ear simply were not landing for him.

What reached him was hearing a word slowed right down, one sound at a time, in the voices he knew best. And it was never only us. It was his whole family, and most of all his Nanny. Sona grew out of that.

It turned out a lot of families have their own version of that gap. A child who needs words shaped a little more gently, and the people whose voices teach them, who are not always in the room.

Laura and Tom, founders. Laura is qualified in language development and Tom is a software developer and project manager. We built Sona in Australia and England for our son, with his whole family behind it.

Lock your Founder price

Sona is real. We built it and refined it hand in hand with our own son, and now we want other families to try it. A refundable A$5 deposit locks your Founder price of A$159, below both the A$179 super early bird and the A$209 retail, and holds one device for you at that price.

A$159, guaranteed. Below the A$179 super early bird, with no cap to race.
Your A$5 comes off your pledge, so nothing is wasted.
A private link to claim it, the moment the Kickstarter opens.
Yours 24 hours before the public campaign.
One device at this price, held for you.
Fully refundable, any time, no questions asked, and refunded automatically if we don't launch.

100% refundable

A$5

holds your Founder price

Founder A$159 · early bird A$179 · retail A$209

This is a fully refundable reservation, not a purchase or pre-order. Your A$5 holds your Founder price of A$159 and your priority access. When the Kickstarter opens you complete your pledge through a private link, and the A$5 comes off it. You are never obligated to pledge, Sona is not yet for sale, and no delivery date is promised. Ask for your A$5 back at any time, for any reason.

Not ready to commit? Join the list

Leave your email and we will tell you the moment Sona opens, with early access before the public campaign. No deposit, and no Founder price locked.

We'll only email you about Sona. Unsubscribe in one click, any time.

Frequently asked questions

No. Sona is screen-light. There's a small, calm display that shows one word at a time while it plays, with no video, no feeds, and nothing built to hold a child's attention longer than the word takes. It's made to be picked up, used, and put down.

It's sent once to build your words in your voice, then discarded, as soon as those words are made. We don't keep your recording, we don't use it to train anything, and the words you make are only reachable by the private link you're given.

Joining the list is free: we email you the moment Sona opens, with early access before the public campaign. The refundable A$5 deposit does more. It locks your Founder price of A$159, guaranteed and below the super early bird, holds one device for you, gives you a private link to claim it 24 hours early, and comes off your pledge when you back. Both are cancellable any time.

Yes. Ask any time, for any reason, and you get it back. The A$5 reserves your Founder price of A$159 and comes off your pledge when you back, and if we never launch it's refunded automatically. It's a deposit to reserve that price, not a purchase. Sona isn't available to buy yet.

We're not promising a date. The device is a working prototype, and the Kickstarter is how we fund the first production run. Everyone on the list hears the honest timeline before the campaign opens.

Founder backers who place a refundable A$5 deposit lock a Founder price of A$159, below both the A$179 super early bird and the A$209 retail. You claim it through a private link when the Kickstarter opens, one device per person, and your A$5 comes off your pledge. Nothing is charged now beyond the optional refundable A$5.

No. There's no microphone and no camera in the device, and it doesn't connect to the internet while it's being used. It stores no data about your child. Voices are recorded once, by adults, on a phone. Never by the device.

English at launch, with more languages following. Each pack is curated by native speakers rather than machine-translated from English, because the first words a child needs aren't the same everywhere.