Elastic and electromagnetic waves can be used to gather important information about particulate materials. To facilitate smart geophysical characterization of particulate materials, their fundamental properties are discussed and experimental procedures are presented for both elastic and electromagnetic waves. The first application is related to the characterization of particulate materials using shear waves, concentrating on changes in effective stress during consolidation, multi-phase phenomena with relation to capillarity, and microscale characteristics of particles. The second application involves electromagnetic waves, focusing on stratigraphy detection in layered soils, estimation of void ratio and its spatial distribution, and conduction in unsaturated soils. Experimental results suggest that shear waves allow studying particle contact phenomena and the evolution of interparticle forces, while electromagnetic waves give insight into the characteristics of the fluid phase and its spatial distribution.