Verification of effect of interference between multiple scatterers on the evaluation of backscattering coefficient

Abstract

Backscatter coefficient analysis methods for biological tissues have been clinically applied but assume a homogeneous scattering medium. In addition, there are few examples of actual measurement studies in the HF band, and the consistency with theory has not been sufficiently confirmed. In this paper, the effect of correlations among scatterer positions on backscattering was investigated by performing experiments on inhomogeneous media having two types of scattering source with different structural and acoustic properties. In the echo data of phantoms containing two types of scatterer acquired by multiple sensors, the power and frequency dependence of the backscatter coefficient were different from theoretical calculations due to the interference effects of each scatterer. The effect of interference between the two types of scatterer was confirmed to be particularly strong for echoes acquired by the sensor at high intensity and HF, or for a higher number density of strong scatterers.