Ch 6 Sound in Media Flashcards
What two things do sound waves do when traveling?
Some reflect at the boundaries of 2 different media, remainder travels deeper to next medium boundary
Sound ______ as it travels.
weakens
Propagation
sound traveling through tissue
Reflection
portion of sound that bounces off medium boundaries
Receive
reflected wave traveling back to transducer
Attenuate
sound wave weakening while traveling
absorption
Amplified
US system strengthens reflected waves received by transducer
What are the 6 steps to signals traveling?
- Sound waves created & transmitted into body by US system & transducer
- Sound waves attenuate as they propagate
- Waves are reflected at boundary of 2 media
- Reflections received by transducer
- Waves converted to electrical signal
- Signal sent to US system to be amplified
What do decibels measure?
- strength of sound beams as they are created and propagate
- strength and brightness of images created by electrical signals
What is decibel notation?
- uses logarithms
- does not use absolute numbers
- reports relative change
Decibel notation is: (4 things)
- relative measurement
- a comparison
- a ratio
- logarithmic
Positive decibels report signals that are what?
Increasing in strength or getting larger
When intensity doubles, the relative change is ______?
3 dB
Negative decibels report what kind of signals?
- signals that are decreasing or getting smaller
When intensity is reduced to half the original value, the relative change is _____?
-3 dB
What is a logarithm?
- method of rating numbers
- represents the number of 10s multiplied to create the original number
If a log increases by 1, the number increases _____
10 fold
What is the log of 1000? 10000?
3, 4
Attenuation is a decrease in what 3 parameters as sound propagates?
Power, intensity, amplitude
What two factors is attenuation determined by?
Path length and frequency of sound
How does path length affect attenuation?
- directly affects it
- increased distance = increased attenuation
- increased distance = decreased strength
How does frequency affect attenuation?
- directly affects
- increased frequency = increased attenuation
- increased frequency = decreased strength
What 3 processes contribute to attenuation?
Reflection, scattering, absorption
What does reflection do to part of the wave that keeps traveling?
Weakens it
What are the two types of reflection in soft tissue?
Specular, diffuse
What is specular reflection?
- smooth boundary
- reflected sound travels in one direction
- travels in an organized manner
- if wave is off-axis reflection doesn’t return to sound source
What is an example of specular reflection?
Mirror
What is diffuse reflection?
- most boundaries not smooth
- reflected sound travels in more than one direction
- interfaces at variable angles w sound source will still produce reflections that will travel back to sound source
“Backscattered” reflections have _______ strength than specular reflections
Weaker
What is scattering?
- random redirection of sound in diff directions
- sound scatters when tissue interface is small
Higher frequency sound scatters ____ than lower frequency.
More
How is scattering related to frequency?
Directly
What is Rayleigh scattering?
- organized form of scattering
- occurs when structure dimensions are smaller than beam’s wavelength
What kind of structures could cause Rayleigh scattering?
RBCs, tissue cells
How does Rayleigh scattering change with increased frequency?
Drastically increases, it is proportional to frequency^4
When frequency doubles Rayleigh scattering is how much greater?
16 times
What is absorption?
It occurs when sound energy is converted into heat and radiates away
How is absorption related to frequency?
Directly, increased freq = increased absorp
What is attenuation coefficient?
Process where sound energy is extracted from a wave by absorption, scattering and reflection
How is attenuation coefficient measured?
Number of decibels of attenuation that occurs when sound travels one cm
dB/cm
What does total attenuation depend on?
- Frequency of sound wave
- distance wave traveled
- tissue wave traveled through