About us

Our Goal is to make the worlds Best Digital Hydrophones.

Ocean Sonics designs and manufactures icListen, the world’s first smart digital hydrophone. Compact and easy to use, its small size makes it the perfect tool for sound data collection. Listen in real-time and improve decision making or use as an acoustic recorder for long term deployments. The best data is collected with the best tools. icListen’s internal processing saves time as digital sound is streamed live.

Integration and arrays have been simplified with the first in a new generation of smart hydrophones, icListen Kayak. Its small diameter makes it the best option for creating complex arrays, easily deployed by an individual or small team. Kayak maintains the range of depths, bandwidth and high-quality data while being the lowest power and towable.

Ocean Sonics is dedicated to your success, and we are always guided by our three pillars of excellence, Simplicity, Accuracy and Reliability. We provide services in deployment, system design and integration, and data processing.

Listen Now. The Ocean Sonics Way.

Where We Started

In 2005, while sitting at their kitchen table overlooking the shores of the Bay of Fundy, Mark Wood and Desiree Stockermans were tasked with an impossible mission: to create a hydrophone that could process large amounts of data in real-time, right where it was needed. Surprised that such a hydrophone didn’t exist, they decided to take on this impossible mission.

They worked hard, trying many ideas and designing countless prototypes. But they didn’t give up and their determination paid off when they stumbled upon a groundbreaking solution. They crafted a smart digital hydrophone that could process sounds at the source, compressing and reducing all the sound data that is sent to the surface, in real-time. It was a new and exciting concept that brought together artificial intelligence with instant recording capabilities.

With a working prototype in hand, they named the hydrophone “Big Ears” and shared it with the world.
Just as people were starting to hear about this new hydrophone, Hurricane Dennis howled through the Gulf of Mexico, springing a leak in the BP Thunderhorse rig. The rig was the world’s largest semi-submersible oil platform at the time, responsible for servicing 1% of the total US oil production. “Big Ears” became the sole hydrophone capable of locating the leak, averting environmental disaster and saving countless jobs.

With this success in hand, Mark and Desiree started a new phase of their adventure: building a new market sector while continuing to spread awareness about their product. It was in 2012 when they eventually founded Ocean Sonics, a company dedicated to commercializing the smart digital hydrophone, now known as, the icListen.

Their vision for Ocean Sonics was built on the idea of giving the ocean a voice, and they do that by making products that are simple, accurate, and reliable. Ocean Sonics is a story that is a testament to the power of innovation, perseverance, and the belief that even the most impossible challenges could be overcome with determination and unconventional ingenuity.

Sustainability and B-Corp™ status

Ocean Sonics is passionate about the environment, sustainability, social stewardship, and understanding and protecting our oceans. In 2017 Ocean Sonics became a certified B Corp, further cementing our dedication to responsible exploration of our oceans.

Since 2017 we have earned Best for the World: Environment in 2018, 2019, and 2021. This title is given to companies globally who are in the top 5% of their corresponding size groups for leading business practices which aim to benefit the environment and have the least impact on the environment in the process.