Hydrophones sensitive to particle velocity or pressure gradient are not yet available as off‐the‐shelf devices, although they have been studied quite thoroughly in the past. A new look at their possible application to underwater‐acoustic research shows that they hold promise in applications where low sensitivity can be tolerated, since reproducible performance can be bought at the expense of sensitivity. Nearfield studies of radiators can, for instance, make use of extremely insensitive transducers. The noise performance of the devices in the presence of turbulent flow is, on the other hand, a very severe restriction to their use in a free field.