Why is it that when you are underwater you cannot tell what direction sound comes from?

Question

I noticed when I was scuba diving that I could never tell what direction sounds came from. I could hear them very clearly but could never tell where they were coming from. Others have told me that you can't underwater - but I have never found out why. Does anyone know?

Answer 1

Simply put,the density of water makes it a much more efficient conductor of sound. This gives the impression that sound may be coming from more than one direction.

Answer 2

Sound travels more efficiently in water due to the relative density of water as a medium. Sound waves travels four times faster underwater than in air: 4,800 feet per second versus 1,100 feet per second. Although sounds may be detected more easily underwater, it does not necessarily follow that a diver's hearing is improved. Hearing is impaired because of the difficulty in determining the origin of underwater sounds. The time delay between when a sound hits one ear and when it hits the other is the most important factor in one's ability to determine the source of that sound. The increased speed of sound reduces that time delay to such an extent that the brain centers for hearing cannot react quick enough and the brain becomes "confused" because it reacts as it the sound hits both ears simultaneously. Therefore, the time delay makes the determination of sound origin and the direction underwater virtually impossible.

Aloha

Answer 3

I've noticed this too when snorkeling.

Sound travels faster in water so there is less time difference between each ear detecting a sound.

Answer 4

I'm also a scuba diver and know that it is because both sound (and light) travel faster through water and are therefore received by the sensory receptor (eye or ear - then brain) much quicker than in air.

It is therefore not possible for the brain to decode the information in the same fashion as when received via air. In effect from the point of the sound being made to being received by your ear the shortened time is too quick for the brain to work out where the sound is coming from!

Answer 5

because there is no air.

Answer 6

Alien technology.

Answer 7

because our ears are filled with water.

Answer 8

Two of the people where spot on. The reason is because sound does travel faster under water. I was working on a dive ship over the last Christmas holiday. I was down on a deep dive when they fired up the tender. You could hear it at that depth but couldn't  tell that it was above you. Weirdest sensation.

Answer 9

maybe because you are UNDERwater...get it??

Answer 10

sound travels through a fluid (air is a fluid, as is water) by vibrating particles.

in water, the particles are closer together (so the fluid is thicker or more 'viscous') so soud travels out in all directions faster and further.

we locate sounds in air by measuring the time gap between sounds hitting each ear (this is why owls have ears at different heights in order to hunt by sound).

underwater, the sound vibrations are travelling faster so our ears cannot distinguish the time gap so cannot pin-point the location.