The Secrets of Synchronized Swimming

According to Harper, the result is that two Oceanears speakers can provide the same sound as 20 moving coil based designs. While Harper outfitted the Atlanta pool with two speakers (one mostly for backup) the Beijing pool using moving coil designs needed ten times that. The basic synchronized package comes with a single 8.5-inch diameter speaker and an audio based unit for the bargain price of $2,500.

But putting out enough sound to keep swimmers happy is the easy part.

“We make speakers used in homeland security, but it’s the same speaker as in synchronized swimming,” said Harper. “We’re talking to scuba divers 400 yards away in the water, for many years that was basically impossible, most communication systems can go to a couple hundred feet.”

The speaker technology is being used in an array as part of the Enhance Underwater Loudhailer (eLoud) being developed in the US. The intent of the system is to be able to talk to submerged scuba divers at long distances before they can get close to a potential target to destroy. That capability is powerful but for its final trick Oceanears is really cranking up the volume. A Enforcer System being developed in the UK using Oceanears arrays is designed to “make any potential terrorist diver get sick and not able to function while underwater and force them to the surface.” This system has been used to protect sites in the Middle East during important GCC conferences. And we thought synchronized swimming was tough.

For more info on acoustics, check out the NOAA's tutorial

Big thanks to USOC media relations director Taylor Payne for her help.