Physics 111 Chapter 4 Flashcards
The rule that states that it takes 13 ms for sound to travel 1 cm in soft tissue
13 ms rule
Amplitude mode; the height of the spike on the image is related to the strength (amplitude) of the echo generated by the reflector
A-Mode
As low as reasonably achievable; the principle that states one should always use the lowest power and shortest scanning time possible to reduce potential exposure to the patient
ALARA
The part of the receiver that increases or decreases the received echoes equally, regardless of depth.
Amplification
The maximum or minimum deviation of an acoustic variable from the average value of that variable; the strength of the reflector.
Amplitude
The part of the digital scan converter that converts the analog signals from the receiver to binary for processing by the computer
Analog-to-digital (A-to-D) converter
Without echoes or black
Anechoic
The technique that varies the voltage to the individual elements to reduce grating lobes
Apodization
Echoes on the screen that are not representative of actual anatomy, or reflectors in the body that are not displayed on the screen
Artifacts
Brightness mode; the brightness of the dots is proportional to the strength of the echo generated by the reflector
B-Mode
The instrument that shapes and steers the beam on the transmit end
Beam Former
The digital language of zeroes and ones
Binary
Black and white image
Bistable
The smallest unit of memory in a digital device
Bit
Eight bits of memory
Byte
Display that uses an electron gun to produce a stream of electrons toward a phosphor-coated screen
Cathode ray tube (CRT)
A way of processing the pulse to improve contrast resolution and reduce speckle
Coded excitation
A type of reverberation artifact caused by small reflectors
Comet tail
The function of the receiver that changes the brightness of the echo amplitudes to compensate for attenuation with depth
Compensation
The function of the receiver that decreases the range of signal amplitudes present with the machines receiver; opposite of dynamic range
Compression
The ability to differentiate one shade of gray from another
Contrast resolution
The function of the receiver that makes the signal easier to process by performing rectification and smoothing
Demodulation
Part of the digital scan converter that converts the binary signals from computer memory to analog for display and storage
Digital-to-analog (D to A) converter
The series of echo amplitudes present within the signal
Dynamic range
Refraction artifact caused by the curved surface of the reflector
Edge shadowing
Arc-like bands that occur when the machine is too close to an unshielded electrical device
Electrical interference
An artifact caused by sound passing through an area of lower attenuation
Enhancement
One half of a frame on the display
Field
Places pixels where there is no signal information based on adjacent scan lines
Fill-in interpolation
One complete ultrasound image
Frame
Averages the frequencies across the image to improve contrast resolution and reduce speckel
Frequency compounding