An experimental study on the ultrasonic wave propagation in cancellous bone: waveform changes during propagation

Wave propagation in a trabecular bone was experimentally investigated using an acoustic tube. For the purposes of this study, a cubic sample was gradually filed so the waveform change due to the sample thickness could be observed. The initial sample showed clear two-wave separation. As the sample became thinner, the fast and slow waves gradually overlapped. The apparent frequencies and amplitudes of the fast waves obtained from the time domain data decreased significantly for the smaller thicknesses. This indicates an increase in the apparent attenuation at the initial stage of the propagation. Next the authors investigated the distribution of the ultrasonic field after the transmission through the cancellous bone sample. In addition to a large aperture receiver, a needle-type ultrasonic transducer was used to observe the ultrasonic field. Within an area of the same size of the large transducer, the waveforms retrieved with the needle sensor exhibited high spatial variations; however, the averaged waveform in the plane was similar to the waveform obtained with the large aperture receiver. This indicates that the phase cancellation effect on the surface of the large aperture receiver can be one of the reasons for the strong apparent attenuation observed at the initial stages of the propagation.