About us

Every heartbeat is a whisper of truth.

At OmniBuds, we listen deeply and turn those signals into deeper understanding of your body.

Our Story

OmniBuds was born from a simple belief: your body’s subtle signals shouldn’t go unnoticed.

For over a decade, we’ve pursued a bold idea — what if an ordinary earbud could quietly reveal more about how your body responds to everyday life? That vision has helped open a new frontier in ear based physiological sensing: continuous, ear worn insight into your body’s signals — effortless, unobtrusive, always with you.”

10+

Years of Deep Science

The research backbone behind every heartbeat we study.

5+

Root-Cause Signals

Revealing how your body’s cardiovascular signals change over time.

2016
2018
2019
2022
2024
Our Journey

The Beginning of Earables

Bell Labs Cambridge launches the first Earable Computing research, igniting a new field in wearable sensing.

eSense Goes Global

1,000 open-science earbud devices shared with 75+ institutions, accelerating worldwide experimentation.

 A Community Is Born

The EarComp Symposium is founded, uniting global researchers shaping the future of ear-worn computing.

Breakthrough Physiology from the Ear

Groundbreaking studies demonstrate ear-worn PPG and acoustic–PPG sensing for continuous vital signs.

OmniBuds Emerges

The OmniBuds research platform is unveiled and the company is formed to advance earables for cardiovascular research.

OmniBuds began with a simple conviction: listening to the body should be effortless — and deeper insight shouldn’t depend on bulky devices or clinical visits.  

For more than a decade, we’ve pushed the boundaries of sensing, physiology, and AI to answer a transformative question: What if something as familiar as an earbud could reveal more about how your body responds to everyday life?


That pursuit led us to OmniBuds: an ear worn research platform for continuous, multimodal sensing of cardiovascular related signals, delivered through the quiet simplicity of an earbud. Built by researchers, clinicians, and creators, OmniBuds stands at the intersection of science and human experience, helping reshape how we study, interpret, and design for the signals that underlie cardiovascular physiology.

Our Mission

We aspire to build clinically validated earable biosensing technology that makes cardiovascular insight more accessible, continuous, and meaningful in daily life.

Our Vision

To empower every individual with effortless, continuous insight into cardiovascular signals, transforming the ear into an intuitive gateway to the heart.

Leadership

A team of experts turning heart data into everyday care.

Ben Carter

Chief Executive Officer

Meet Ben

Fahim Kawsar

Chief Technology Officer

Meet Fahim

Alessandro Montanari

Chief Scientific Officer

Meet Alessandro

Jim Stefansic

Chief Operation Officer

Meet Jim

Scientific Advisory Board

Professor Jussi Aleksi Hernesniemi

Professor of Cardiology at Tampere University, specialising in interventional cardiology, big-data–driven risk prevention, and atrial fibrillation management.

Professor of Cardiology

Dr. Daniel W. Kaiser

Cardiac electrophysiologist at Ascension Saint Thomas, specialising in the nonsurgical treatment of arrhythmias and long-term management of atrial fibrillation.

Cardiac electrophysiologist

Dr. Elliott Grant

Technology innovator and former CEO of Alphabet’s Mineral, with a track record of pioneering breakthrough platforms in global food systems and over 50 patented inventions.

Technology innovator and former CEO

Our clinical partners

Backed by

America’s Frontier Fund (AFF)

Koucar Management

Select MedTech & AI Angels

Innovate UK

Cambridge Future Tech

Nokia Ventures

Ben Carter

Chief Executive Officer

A technology executive and entrepreneur with over 25 years of global leadership experience across major corporations and high-growth startups. As CEO of OmniBuds Inc., Ben is driving the development of next-generation earable technology that integrates premium audio, multi-sensor biosensing, and ondevice AI for real-time, clinical-grade health monitoring.

Previously, he co-founded B-Secur, a pioneering SaaS and embedded software company that secured multiple FDA clearances and raised successive funding rounds through Series B. Earlier in his career, Ben held senior commercial and strategic roles at Sony, Nokia, Microsoft, and Pace, leading global partnerships and multimillion-euro programmes.

Recognised for scaling businesses, building high-performing teams, and executing complex technology partnerships, he brings deep industry insight and a passion for innovation, customer-centric design, and technology that elevates human health and performance.

Fahim Kawsar

Chief Technology Officer

A visionary technologist at the intersection of science fiction and engineering reality, Fahim is redefining how we sense, understand, and care for the human body. His work fuses deep science with bold invention — turning intelligent devices into tools that anticipate and respond to the body’s silent signals.

Over a 15-year career at Bell Labs, he rose to Bell Labs Fellow and Director of Device Research, building and leading the Cambridge site and spearheading breakthroughs in embedded sensing, on-device learning, and Earable Computing. His vision catalyzed multiple spinouts and helped shape new directions in mobile systems and ubiquitous AI. As Founder & CTO of OmniBuds, he leads the company’s technical, R&D, and clinical strategy — driving the roadmap for an ear-based health platform enabling continuous cardiovascular monitoring, hypertension management, and deeper insight into physiological drivers.

Fahim is also a Professor at the University of Glasgow, Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Pervasive Computing, and an award-winning author with 200+ publications, 50+ patents, and €6M+ in research funding. He speaks globally on embedded intelligence and the real-world deployment of AI systems.

Alessandro Montanari

Chief Scientific Officer

Alessandro is the deep technical architect behind OmniBuds, driven by a relentless focus on turning scientific breakthroughs into robust, manufacturable products. He combines rigorous sensing science with pragmatic engineering, building full-stack systems that span novel biosensors, embedded algorithms, and clinically grounded applications. Over more than a decade at the intersection of wearable sensing and embedded systems, he has shaped the Earable Computing field, driving both academic insight and industry impact.

His work has led to over 50 peer-reviewed publications and 20+ patents in pervasive computing, embedded AI, and wearable sensing. Previously, he was a Principal Research Scientist and Tech Lead at Nokia Bell Labs, where he led the team that created the original OmniBuds platform. As Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of OmniBuds, he is responsible for the research strategy that harnesses in-ear sensing and analytics to transform how major cardiovascular conditions are managed, leading the technology and engineering programmes that translate cutting-edge research into production-ready medical devices.

Alessandro holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge and remains active in the research community through organising committee roles and delivering keynotes at leading mobile and sensor systems conferences.

Jim Stefansic

Chief Operation Officer

Jim Stefansic is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at OmniBuds, Inc., where his responsibilities include directing all business in the United States, including day-to-day operations, finance, and regulatory and clinical tasks. Previously, Jim was Senior Director of Corporate Development at Cumberland Emerging Technologies (CET). where he sourced, evaluated, and negotiated for new biopharmaceutical product and technology opportunities especially with academic institutions.

He was also COO of Pathfinder Therapeutics, Inc., a company he co-founded, where he led FDA regulatory submissions and business development activities. While there, he raised more than $17 million in venture capital and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding. He also previously served as the Director of Commercialization at Launch Tennessee, where he was instrumental in leading the acquisition of funding to develop and support the statewide SBIR program.

Jim earned an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University, a doctorate from Vanderbilt in the same discipline, and his MBA from Belmont University's Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business, where he currently serves as President of the Alumni Board of Advisors and was named the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 2011. Dr. Stefansic started his career as a Research Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and has patented several technologies. He also serves as a Director at Raiven Healthcare, an AI analytics company he co-founded and sold to a private equity group.