Abstract
A recently described method for speed of sound estimation in tissues in pulse-echo mode involves reception of echoes generated by an ultrasonic pulse by means of a linearly tracking transducer. When the peaks of echo amplitudes are used as markers of arrival time, stairstep-like artifacts appear in the echo arrival time vs. transducer position plots. We postulate that these artifacts area consequence of the speckle phenomenon commonly encountered in ultrasonic imaging. To test this hypothesis, we report computer simulations and water tank experiments which demonstrate similarities between the behavior of the stairsteps and the properties of ultrasonic speckle. Additionally, equations describing the precision of the speed of sound estimation in terms of the second order statistical properties of the stairstep artifact are derived.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 341-353 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1989 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Artifact
- Beam Tracking
- Correlation
- Estimation
- Pulse echo
- Scattering
- Speckle
- Speed of sound
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biophysics
- Radiological and Ultrasound Technology
- Acoustics and Ultrasonics