hydrophone

[ hahy-druh-fohn ]

noun

1. a device for locating sources of sound under water, as for detecting submarines by the noise of their engines.
2. an instrument employing the principles of the microphone, used to detect the flow of water through a pipe.
3. Medicine/Medical. an instrument used in auscultation, whereby sounds are intensified through a column of water.

hydrophone

/ ˈhaɪdrəˌfəʊn /

noun

1. an electroacoustic transducer that converts sound or ultrasonic waves travelling through water into electrical oscillations

hydrophone

/ hī′drə-fōn′ /

1. A device used to detect or monitor sound under water. Hydrophones are often installed or towed in arrays that can be used to pinpoint a sound source or provide sea-floor imaging as part of a sonar system.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hydrophone¹

First recorded in 1855–60; hydro- ¹ + -phone

Example Sentences

This information was coupled with auditory data from almost 500 hydrophone recorders in US Atlantic waters that captured whales' calls.

From Science Daily

During the 2008-2009 International Polar Year, researchers put an underwater microphone called a hydrophone at the Chukchi Plateau for the first time and were surprised to hear bowhead whales in late spring and summer, much farther north than their previously understood migratory paths.

From Science Daily

During her week aboard the vessel, Myers was able to track some 30 tows with a hydrophone that acts like an underwater recording microphone and was attached to a headrope of a net.

From Seattle Times

A hydrophone placed in the water detected movements of the reptiles, which had sonic transmitters attached to their shells.

From National Geographic

Alan McKenna, from volunteer research group Loch Ness Exploration, was on a boat using a hydrophone system to capture the underwater sounds of the Highlands loch.

From BBC