‘Symphonies’ of Living Bodies Could Help Diagnose Diseases

Research into a device that listens to the internal “symphonies” in the bodies of living animals could potentially transform how medical conditions are detected earlier, and diagnosed more accurately, in everything from livestock to people.

“What we learn from livestock at Olds College of Agriculture & Technology will tune the future of human health,” said Shasha Jumbe, CEO of Level 42 AI, Inc., parent company of Vibrome, Canada. “Whether it’s sheep or humans, the vibrations of life — airflow, blood flow, gut motility — create the same inaudible, imperceptible and invisible symphonies. It’s one shared rhythm — one shared soundtrack.” 

The College’s Technology Access Centre for Livestock Production (TACLP) was chosen by the Silicon Valley startup company to test the effectiveness of its imPulse Una infrasound-to-ultrasound AI stethoscope on sheep. The first collaboration between Olds College and Vibrome zeroed in on Haemonchus contortus, which is commonly known as the barber’s pole worm.

It is a blood-feeding parasite that is affecting small ruminant livestock agriculture worldwide. Traditional diagnostics lag behind the disease. “The AI stethoscope was able to distinguish the infected ewes from the non-infected ones,” said Dr. Yaogeng Lei, Research Scientist at TACLP.

Now, the research focus is turning to sheep pregnancy. “If an ewe is carrying multiple fetuses, her nutritional needs would be higher than those with a single fetus,” he said. “Without enough feed, she risks weak offspring. Early pregnancy detection would also help with breeding plans, allowing open ewes to be rebred sooner.” 

Jumbe said early pregnancy and litter size detection with Vibrome biosignatures could transform flock health and farm economics. It is all part of Vibrome’s vision: decoding the silent symphony of health to protect both livestock and people, he said. 

“The pregnancy data from sheep could be a game changer for human health. What we learn in livestock is helping to finetune algorithms that detect life-threatening conditions like preeclampsia and gestational diabetes earlier and more accurately in pregnant women.” 

These conditions, Jumbe noted, are leading causes of maternal and infant death, especially in India, Africa and among women globally who are Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC). “By tuning into the body’s silent signals — across species — we are training our AI to listen for danger before it strikes.”

The human body is a living orchestra — lungs, heart and gut playing in seamless harmony. When illness strikes, that symphony falters, said Jumbe. The imPulse Una listens for those early dissonant notes, he said. 

Its sensors can capture audible sounds and inaudible vibrations, decoding hidden patterns in people, sheep, cattle — and even colonies of bees, he said. Using sophisticated signal processing to isolate signals from noise, AI and real-time data visualization, the system transforms sub-audible vibrations into healthy early warnings, he added.

 “Pressed against the body, through fur and dirt, the Una helps us ‘hear’ what the human ear cannot hear, ‘feel’ what is imperceptible and ‘see’ the invisible,” said Jumbe. “A lung under stress. A heart out of rhythm. A fetus in need.” 

From hospital wards to farm fields, Vibrome biosignatures are being trained to tune in to the silent signals of health, before symptoms ever speak, he said.

At low-volume manufacturing, the imPulse Una device costs about $450 Cdn, but that price is already on its way down, said Jumbe. “We are scaling across both human and livestock health. With volume, smart partnerships, and AI built into mobile apps and the cloud, we will make this technology affordable anywhere and everywhere.” 

He said from village clinics to remote farms, the value proposition is simple: a single device that listens to the body’s silent symphony, and detects disease early, non-invasively and at scale before that first call to the veterinarian.

Jumbe said the imPulse Una is opening new possibilities for sheep producers worldwide by offering a fast, affordable and accurate way to detect health problems early — without relying on a veterinarian. Lei said it gives farmers the power to test their sheep directly. “This could be a major advantage in Canada, where livestock vets are few and often specialize in cattle.” 

Canada had just 828,000 sheep in 2024 compared to nearly 12 million cattle, highlighting the care gap. Early trials show the device may detect Haemonchus contortus in sheep at subclinical level infection. 

The parasite, which attaches to the sheep’s abomasum and causes severe anemia, is a major threat to flock health and profitability. Detecting infection on an individual level could allow farmers to treat only affected animals, reducing costs and slowing drug resistance from broad ivermectin use. 

However, Lei cautions that more research is needed in real-world, multi-parasite settings before widespread farm deployment. Research at Olds College is part of a global effort led by Level 42 AI, using human and animal data from across 13 countries — including studies at the University of Alberta and the University of Saskatchewan — to develop and refine AI models that also diagnose humans, dairy cows and equine cardiorespiratory disease.

To win the trust of regulators like the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Health Canada, as well as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Jumbe said the technology must be grounded in real-world validation. 

“Our algorithms need domain expertise, input and guidance to be interpretable and generalizable,” he explained. “That means combining clinical insights, veterinary science and on-the-ground feedback from farmers. Olds College brings all of that to the table.”

From livestock to humans, the goal is to create a biosignature-based diagnostic that listens to the body’s silent signals, treating lung, heart and gut like instruments in a living symphony. “This will take time,” said Jumbe, “but it is the journey we are committed to walking — together with Olds College.”