Advanced PCB design for earables

Continuous Five-Vital-Sign Health Monitoring in a Miniature Earable — Engineered by Virscient

We made continuous monitoring of five vital signs work for OmniBuds

OmniBuds set out to achieve something that had never been done before: build a comfortable, stylish earbud capable of continuously capturing all five core vital signs — body temperature, breathing rate, pulse rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation — while also delivering premium audio and seamless wireless connectivity. They needed a partner able to merge medical-grade sensing, miniature hardware, embedded intelligence, and user-friendly design into a single, elegant device. Virscient helped them make it real.

OmniBuds’ challenge

For decades, researchers and clinicians relied on bulky machines or costly custom hardware to capture biometric data. These systems were difficult to scale, uncomfortable to use, and typically recorded only point-in-time measurements — not the continuous data streams research increasingly requires.
OmniBuds recognised the opportunity to democratise biometric research by creating a single wearable that could gather high-fidelity physiological data at scale. The ear canal offered a uniquely stable and well-insulated location for biometric sensing, but using an earbud form factor introduced enormous technical challenges. The device needed to integrate multiple sensors, audio hardware, processors, radios, memory and power — all within a tiny enclosure that users would wear for hours at a time.

To succeed, the solution had to deliver medical-grade accuracy, audio performance, comfort, security, and wireless capability, while remaining small, unobtrusive and reliable. It also needed the flexibility to support varied research use cases and evolving data needs. For a device capturing deeply personal health information, accuracy, privacy, and reliability were non-negotiable.

Virscient helped us balance medical-grade sensing with consumer-grade usability — and deliver the world’s first true sensory earable on schedule.

- OmniBuds Project Team

Creating the world’s first sensory earable

The collaboration between OmniBuds and Virscient began when a major multinational technology manufacturer — OmniBuds’ parent organisation — sought support from one of their semiconductor partners. They recommended Virscient because of its track record in delivering high-performance wireless audio in extremely crowded RF environments, especially in stylish, miniature wearables. That introduction sparked a multi-year partnership in which Virscient worked alongside OmniBuds’ leadership to design the world’s first device capable of capturing all vital signs from the ear canal.

Bringing OmniBuds to life required threading together PCB design, embedded software, sensor integration, mobile applications, AI and machine learning pipelines, and wireless connectivity. The team had to solve fundamental challenges: how to combine rich audio features with medical-grade sensing; how to create a continuous monitoring system with no tolerance for failure; and how to house it all within a device small enough — and comfortable enough — for everyday wear.

Virscient designed and engineered a unique flat flex PCB to handle all the functionality and fit into the small form factor.
The result was a sophisticated yet intuitive earable with 2GB of onboard storage, high-fidelity audio, vital-sign sensors, an MCU, wireless capability, and a six-hour battery life — all working together to continuously, comfortably, and accurately capture real-time physiological data.

Virscient’s solution

Technology selection & system architecture
• Designed an ultra-compact PCB integrating biometric sensors, audio hardware, MCU, radios, power management and 2GB storage
• Engineered the mechanical and electrical layout needed for accurate sensing inside the ear canal
• Developed a scalable architecture for wireless data transfer, continuous monitoring, and secure on-device storage
• Balanced ergonomic, acoustic, thermal and physiological constraints to maintain comfort and accuracy
• Ensured privacy, security and reliability suitable for sensitive health data

Firmware & embedded software engineering
• Built embedded software for continuous sampling of all five vital signs
• Integrated accelerometer and gyroscope for activity and movement classification
• Developed audio features including active noise cancellation, music playback and hands-free calling
• Implemented low-latency wireless communication for alerts and data streaming
• Supported AI/ML models for pattern recognition and anomaly detection
• Worked on the companion app and research-focused data interfaces

Testing, validation & production readiness
• Performed detailed testing for accuracy, wireless coexistence, thermal behaviour and long-term wearability
• Validated comfort, fit, and physiological stability across real-world conditions
• Ensured reliable RF performance in highly congested environments
• Provided project management across engineering, design, manufacturing and app teams
• Supported OmniBuds in meeting launch timelines and scaling production for early 2025 deployments

OmniBuds is now a fully realised breakthrough in earable computing: a compact, stylish device capable of continuously monitoring all five vital signs with medical-grade fidelity while also functioning as a premium audio product. With long battery life, rich onboard feature sets, and secure wireless communication, it transforms the way researchers and clinicians can gather and interpret human biometric data. Following its early-2025 launch, nearly 500 OmniBuds units were deployed to research teams across the United States and internationally — a testament to the device’s readiness for large-scale clinical and academic use. The platform’s applications extend well beyond research: it offers value for high-performance sports, stress and wellbeing tracking, and safety monitoring in demanding workplaces. OmniBuds demonstrates what’s possible when bold product ambition meets deep expertise in wireless, embedded software, and miniature PCB engineering. Together, OmniBuds and Virscient delivered a world-first device that is already reshaping the landscape of digital health research and wearable biometric sensing.

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We made it work for Omnibuds.

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