Our world is shaped profoundly by science and technology, which are strongly interrelated. The importance of integrating technology in science teaching is acknowledged by many international science-teaching standards in recent decades. The present study aims at examining how undergraduate students utilize what they have learnt about the physics of waves to explain the principles of simple acoustic apparatuses. The study includes 90 participants in 14 clinical interviews as well as 4 focus group interviews. Four categories of misconceptions were identified: direct views of sound, emergent transverse wave views of sound, explanations based on a device's salient feature, and wrong applications of physics knowledge. The most frequent category was "explanations based on a device's salient feature." We explain these findings in terms of Vosniadou's framework theory. Finally, we provide practical implications to education.