The shallow-water acoustics problem has risen in importance due to the increased salience of regional conflicts where the US Navy may to encounter slow, diesel submarines close to shore.

Underwater plasma sound source, namely underwater sparker, is a significant application of pulsed discharge in water, which has been employed for underwater acoustics and sea oil prospecting.

"It is based on acoustics and temperature, so it basically picks up the noise of the water as it runs through the pipe, " Dr Hendrickx explained.