The effect of viscoelastic absorption on the fast and slow wave modes in cancellous bone

Two longitudinal wave modes (called fast and slow wave modes) have been shown to propagate in cancellous bone. In this study, the effect of viscoelasticity on this two-wave phenomenon was investigated using a 3-D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method accounting for viscoelastic phenomena. The results show that the amplitude of the slow wave increases when the viscoelasticity in bone increase, while the opposite behavior was obtained for the fast wave.