Ultrasound properties of lung tissue and their measurements

In-vitro measurements have been carried out for the group velocity and the attenuation, in dB/cm, in cow lung tissue. The velocity and the attenuation were measured both as a function of air content, from 32 to 68%, and as a function of frequency, from 10 to 800 KHz. The group velocity was determined from measurement of the phase difference between the transmitted and incident acoustic signal while the attenuation was measured from the insertion loss with correction for the water-lung interface transmission losses. The measured group velocities indicate only a small degree of dispersion, but a strong dependence on air content. The attenuation is very high and exhibits strong frequency dependence, but weak air content dependence.