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When electricity discharges from high voltage lines or when it jumps across a gap in an electrical connection, it disturbs the air molecules around it and generates ultrasound. Often this sound will be perceived as crackling or frying; in other situations it will be heard as a buzzing sound. When inspecting components such as insulators, cables, switchgear, buss bars, relays, contactors, and junction boxes, the three most common electrical problems, arcing, corona, and tracking can all be detected by ultrasound in time to prevent failure conditions from occurring.

Ultrasound combined with infrared technology, are the best tools to detect and prevent pipeline leaks, plant & air product leaks and electrical outages and failures. Infrared services can detect heat generated by arcing and in most instances tracking; it will not sense corona. Ultrasonic testing is often used for identifying tracking, arcing and corona. While infrared instruments will detect emissions related to heat, ultrasonic equipment detects high frequency components of ionization produced by these potential failure conditions. These instruments translate ultrasound by heterodyning (an electric translation process), these inaudible sounds down into the audible ranges. Specific sound quality of each type of emission is heard in headphones while the intensity of the signal is observed on a display panel. By listening for a crackling, frying, or buzzing sound, a user will be able to quickly locate the source of the potential problem area.