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> Yesterday, while hanging on the deco line, I began to > think about your ideas on vocal communication under > water. It ocurred to me that I was in the perfect > position to try a short experiment. Quietly, I drifted > across to my buddy who was peacefully meditating at the > end of his jon line. He's a film cameraman - not > normally a person of nervous disposition. Hovering > close, slightly above and behind him, I took a large > breath, took out my 2nd stage, cupped my hands around > my mouth as you instructed, placed them lightly against > the back of his wetsuit hood, and screamed (quite loudly) > "CAN YOU HEAR ME JAMIE?!?!" [very amusing story...] > But here's my real problem Richard. After we had boarded the > boat and my buddy was speaking to me again, I asked him to > repeat what I had called out to him underwater. He said it > sounded like "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blahblah". > I think I'm doing something wrong. Can you tell me what? Well, for starters, he probably wasn't concentrating on what you were trying to say, given his reaction.... I was taught both methods by a guy named Mitch Warner, a professional photographer in Guam. Of the two methods, the glove one is much easier to learn how to do. You take a glove (or other collapsable sack, such as JT's head), deflate it, seal the opening around your mouth, get close to your buddy's ear, then just talk. The better ratio of maximum loudness to minimum volume of gas, the better the transmission. The transmission is garbled if too much gas escapes around the seal that the glove forms with your mouth. Mitch is much better at the bone conduction one than I am. He first did it to me while we were decompressing from a deep dive in Guam, on which Mitch was taking video of my friend and I collect fish. He snuck up behind me and put me in a head-lock. At first I tried to wrestle him (I thought that was what he was trying to do), then all of a sudden, I heared as clear as clear as a bell, "I'm going to decompress for about five more minutes, then I want to go up on the boat and film you guys surfacing". Mitch actually formed the seal on my head with his lips - no cupped hands - and I could hear what he was saying PERFECTLY - even though it was hard to concentrate on what he was saying because I was watching my friend laugh harder than I've ever seen anyone ever laugh before underwater (except for a guy in Mauritius once - but that's an unrealted story). I've never been able to master the direct-lip seal method, but I have gotten it to work by cupping my hands. What you're trying to do is form an air pocket into which you can speak. > PS. I am planning to try talking into his glove next week. I > will let you know how it goes. Good luck... Aloha, Rich
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