Impedance matching is a concept that can maximize energy transmission from a source through a media, and is established across electrical, acoustic and optical engineering. It is frequently necessary to match a load impedance to the source or internal impedance of a driving source. The existing design to facilitate acoustic impedance matching is fundamentally limited by narrowband transmission (data transfer with a slow or small transfer rate). In a new report now published on Science Advances, Erqian Dong and a research team in China and the U.S. detailed a previously unknown class of bioinspired metagel impedance transformers to bypass the existing limits, by developing a transformer embedded in a metamaterial matrix of steel cylinders within hydrogel. The team then theoretically analyzed broadband transmission after introducing bioinspired acoustic impedance (the product of the density of porous media through which a sound wave travels and the velocity of the sound wave) and conducted experiments with the device to show efficient implementation of the metagel during underwater ultrasound detection experiments. The experimental construct maintained a soft, tunable composition and will pave a new and unexpected way to design next-generation broadband impedance matching devices for diverse wave-engineering applications.