Resident Physics Lectures

03:
Attenuation

George David
Associate Professor
Medical College of Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
 Attenuation

• Reduction in amplitude &

intensity as sound
travels through medium
• Causes
 absorption
» sound energy converted to heat
» dominant influence in soft tissue
 reflection
 scattering

George David
Associate Professor
Medical College of Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
 Absorption

• Units
decibels (dB)
• dB indicates signal gain
“+” indicates signal gets larger
“-” indicates signal gets smaller
 ultrasound absorption is always negative dB
» sound always loses intensity
» negative sometimes implied

dB indicates fraction of intensity lost

Logarithm Review

x = log10(y) means

10 to what power = y ?

or

10x = y
George David
Associate Professor
Medical College of Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
 Logarithms Review

log 1 = 0
log 10 = 1
log 100 = 2
log 10n = n
log (1/10) = 10-1 = -1
log (1/100) = 10-2 = -2
log (1/1000) = 10-3 = -3
 Gain & Decibels

Power In Tissue
Power Out
(attenuation)

• decibel definition
dB =10 X log10 [power out / power in]

Power Ratio = Power Out / Power In

dB =10 X log10 [power ratio]
 Gain & Decibels
Power In Tissue
Power Out
(attenuation)

Power Ratio = Power Out / Power In

• Power Ratio > 1 • Power Ratio < 1

Amplifier Absorber / Attenuator
Power Out > Power In Power Out < Power In
Log [Power ratio] >0 Log [Power ratio] <0

dB =10 X log10 [power ratio]

 Power Ratio
Power Ratio = Power Out / Power In
dB =10 X log10 [power ratio]

Decibel calculation
logarithms Power ratio dB
log 1 = 0 1 0
log 10 = 1 10 10
log 100 = 2
100 20
log 10n = n
log (1/10) = 10-1 = -1 1/100 -20
log (1/100) = 10-2 = -2 10 n n X 10
log (1/1000) = 10-3 = -3 2 3
 dB Attenuation

• dB / 10 indicates # of powers of ten

attenuation
• Every increase of 10 dB indicates
another factor of 10 attenuation

George David
Associate Professor
Medical College of Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
 dB: Try Again
10 dB: 1 factor
of 10 or 10 you
morons 60 dB: 6 factors
of 10 or
1,000,000, nyuk,
nyuk, nyuk

20 dB: 2 factors
of 10 or 10 X 10
or 100

10 dB = 1 power of 10 = 10
20 dB = 2 powers of 10 = 100
60 dB = 6 powers of 10 = 1,000,000
 Attenuation & Frequency

• Attenuation affected by
medium
frequency

• As frequency increases, so does

attenuation
bass sound carries farther than treble
high frequency = poorer penetration
 Attenuation In Soft Tissue
Rule of Thumb

• 0.5 dB / cm attenuation for each MHz

frequency
“cm” refers to distance of sound travel
other texts may say 1 dB / cm depth / MHz
» 1 cm depth equivalent to 2 cm sound travel
 Rule of Thumb
0.5 dB/cm/MHz
• To calculate attenuation (dB) simply multiply
rule of thumb by round trip distance & by
frequency

• 5 MHz sound; 10 cm sound travel

 attenuation = 0.5 dB/cm/MHz X 10 cm X 5 MHz = 25 dB

• 3.5 MHz sound; 4 cm sound travel

 attenuation = 0.5 dB/cm/MHz X 4 cm X 3.5 MHz = 7 dB
 Attenuation Coefficient

• Attenuation Coefficient = 0.5 * Freq.

(dB/cm) (dB/cm/MHz) * (MHz)

• indicates fraction of beam

intensity lost per unit distance
of sound traval
 Attenuation Coefficient
• Attenuation Coefficient = 0.5 * Freq.
(dB/cm) (dB/cm/MHz) * (MHz)

Frequency Attenuation
(MHz) Coefficient
(dB/cm)
1 0.5
2 1.0
5 2.5
10 5
 Attenuation Coefficient
Comments

• Attenuation Coefficient = 0.5 * Freq.

(dB/cm) (dB/cm/MHz) (MHz)
• Longer path results in increased
attenuation
• Higher frequency results in
increased attenuation coefficient
• Higher attenuation coefficient results
in more attenuation
 dB vs. Intensity Ratio
dB attenuation =10 X log10 [intensity ratio]
Fraction attenuated = 1 - intensity ratio

dB Intensity Fraction
atten. Ratio atten.
1 .79 .21
2 .63 .37
3 .50 .50
4 .40 .60
5 .32 .68
10 .1 .90
20 .01 .99
30 .001 .999
 Soft Tissue Attenuation
Calculation
Attenuation = Attenuation Coefficient X
Path Length

Freq. Atten Coef. Atten(dB). % Int. Red. Atten(dB) % Int. Red.

dB / cm 1 cm 1 cm 10 cm 10 cm

2.0 1.0 1 21 10 90
3.5 1.8 1.8 34 18 98
5.0 2.5 2.5 44 25 99.7
7.5 3.8 3.8 58 38 99.98
10.0 5.0 5.0 68 50 99.999
 Attenuation
• Why dB?
dB’s can be added together

• Rule of thumb doesn’t

always work
Attenuation higher in lung & bone
than in soft tissue
Attenuation in lung and bone not
proportional to frequency

Class during lecture on

attenuation
 Attenuation Coefficients
0.5 dB/cm/MHz is soft tissue average assumed by scanner

Tissue Attenuation Coefficient

(dB/cm/MHz)
• Fat 0.6
• Brain 0.6
• Liver 0.5
• Kidney 0.9
• Muscle 1.0
• Heart 1.1
 Half Intensity Depth

• Decreases with increasing

frequency
HID = 3 dB / Attenuation Coefficient

HID = 3 dB / Freq (MHz) * 2

Frequency Atten Coef. HID

(MHz) dB/cm cm
------------------------------------------------------
1 0.5 6.0
2 1.0 3.0
5 2.5 1.2
10 5.0 0.6
 Attenuation
• half intensity depth (HID)
depth where intensity = 50% of original
corresponds to 3dB attenuation

180
HID 150
100
66
39
 Practical Implications
of Attenuation
• limits maximum imaging depth
• higher frequencies result in
increased attenuation
decreased imaging depth
improved axial resolution