Acoustic parameter estimation based on attenuation and dispersion measurements

In the measurement of acoustic attenuation that obeys a power-law /spl alpha/=/spl beta/f/sup n/, the traditional through-transmission method uses only the amplitude information of the recorded pulses to estimate the two parameters, /spl beta/ and n. In this paper, the authors propose a new method that utilizes both the amplitude and phase information of the pulses to estimates the two parameters by simultaneously least-squares fitting the attenuation curve and the dispersion curve. Because the parameters are estimated under additional constraints, the estimation uncertainty is reduced. Experimental results from castor oil demonstrate the advantage of this new method.