A systematic method is developed to select the most appropriate sensor for a particular application. A wide range of candidate sensors exist, and many are based on coupled electrical and mechanical phenomena, such as the piezoelectric, magnetostrictive and the pyre-electric effects. Performance charts for sensors are constructed from suppliers data for commercially available devices. The selection of an appropriate sensor is based on matching the operating characteristics of sensors to the requirements of an application. The final selection is aided by additional considerations such as cost, and impedance matching. Case studies illustrate the selection procedure.