Ultrasound Field Measuring Using Hydrophone for Quantitative Evaluation of Medical Ultrasonic Probe

The quality of ultrasonic images is crucially affected by the applied ultrasonic probe; thus, it is necessary to evaluate the ultrasonic probe to achieve optimal performance. In this paper, the 3D acoustic field analysis method using a hydrophone, one of the probe evaluation methods, was performed, and the efficacy of this evaluation method for quantitative evaluation was evaluated. To acquire the acoustic field distribution of ultrasound at 7.5 MHz, a 128-multi-element medical ultrasonic array probe, that is considered to be inferior, was attached to a shaft. The shaft could be controlled in the x, y, and z directions. The hydrophone was attached in a water bath. The acoustic field distribution of each channel was displayed, and some parameters such as maximum acoustic pressure, the volume of -3dB field, and the symmetry of acoustic field were calculated. Using these parameters, the acoustic fields of normal, abnormal and simulated channels were compared. Comparing acoustic field characteristics of each channel proves that the proposed 3D acoustic field parameters are reliable and efficient to assess the performance of the ultrasonic probe.