Users
E-
WHALE WATCHING
“We bought a DolphinEar hydrophone to replace another more expensive one that we used occasionally. I say occasionally because it was difficult to set up and use. I ordered the DolphinEar when the old hydrophone gave up the ghost. But since it cost only about a fifth of the old one, I really didn’t expect much.
“I can’t tell you how surprised we were when the DolphinEar arrived. It is much more sensitive and so much easier to use. We are using it on every trip now (instead of just occasionally) and play back the sounds through our speakers. There’s no set up we just toss the hydrophone over the side and turn it on.
“We find it’s particularly useful when the sea conditions make sighting whales difficult. Our guests can hear them even if they can’t see them. That makes our job easier.
“We often cut the engines and just drift and listen as the whales and dolphins go about their business. It’s a much gentler way of doing whale watching and our guests come away with a better appreciation of the ocean environment.
“We’ve made some recordings which we use to sign up customers at one of the local hotels and of course at the dock.”
ROCKPOOLING
“Having recently bought the DolphinEar and used it for rockpooling along the UK coast. I have been surprised at its sensitivity. In the past I have given short demonstrations with my other hydrophone which is a commercial one, using a tape recorder as an amplifier and two small loudspeakers to show what can be heard underwater. I find that the faint sounds the DolphinEar picks up would be lost if played through the my existing set-up.
“My aim is to introduce this fascinating side of rockpooling to young people. I started underwater recording about five years ago making my own hydrophones but not successfully. Last year I was asked to help a student put on a public demonstration of underwater sounds. I would provide the equipment to record the sound and he would then analyse the sounds on his computerised equipment at the Information Centre afterwards. This worked well and I recorded the sounds made by limpets and prawns/shrimps. The limpets can be heard rasping the plantlife from the rocks and the prawns/shrimps can be heard clicking. There have been other noises as well but need further investigation.
“The DolphinEar is far more versatile than the other hydrophone I used. I gave a demonstration at the national aquarium a few days ago and its director was most impressed. He wants to use DolphinEar at various places in the aquarium so that visitors can listen.”
/ Bryan V. (UK)
SHARKS!
“In Australia, we use nets to protect our beaches from sharks. But, we don’t want to entangle dolphins in the nets so we use underwater ‘pingers’ to alert them of the danger.
“As a Government agency we have a requirement to ensure that the pingers are working at all times. The officers run along side the nets in a outboard boat and use DolphinEar to listen and check that the pingers are working using the headphones. The pinger are usually 3 to 6 meter below the sea surface. The inspecting patrol boat is 3 to 10 meter from the net.”
/ B.L. – Australia
EDUCATION (Primary Schools)
This weekend I used the hydrophone with 4th and 5th grade children (ages 9-11) with appreciable success. Some even drew the hydrophone and depicted the snapping shrimp below in their art projects. Underwater sound transmittance is also a good lesson as we differentiated a twin 45HP outboard motor 2.5 miles away in 56 degree (F) water.
/ Brian P.. – California
FISH POND
“I received my DolphinEar today. I just tried it out in my fish pond (sad I know) and was amazed to hear the carp feeding. The food that I feed my carp are little balls like biscuits, in fact when you hear them it is just like someone chomping away on a biscuit. I cannot wait to take it out on my boat.”
/ Steve C. –
SWIMMING POOLS
“My primary use for DolphinEar is to monitor my SWIMMING POOL!!”
/ Gary L. –