Diffraction correction methods for insertion ultrasound attenuation estimation.

We describe diffraction effects in acoustic ultrasound attenuation coefficient estimation using an insertion technique. We characterize the estimation error produced by diffraction as a function of distance and nominal attenuation values. Two new methods for correcting for the diffraction effect are presented. They are termed the Theoretical Diffraction Correction (TDC) and Experimental Diffraction Correction (EDC) techniques, respectively. Experimental validation of the two techniques is also presented, using two different sets of ultrasound measurements obtained with 1 MHz and 500 kHz transducer pairs, respectively. Significant improvement in the accuracy of the acoustic attenuation coefficient is demonstrated using both techniques.