Waves and Sound Chapter 12 191

spread fingers and listens, with a stethoscope, to the quality of the sound being
produced. Typically, regions in the body filled with air provide a resonant
higher frequency sound. Regions filled with tissue yield a duller less resonant
sound depending on the nature of the tissue. Percussion is most commonly used
in examining large organs mostly lungs, intestines, liver, and spleen.
In current methods of elastographic image production, the tissue to be exam-
ined is distorted by one means or another, and the subsequent response of the
tissue is recorded. Often the distortion is produced simply by an externally
applied compression. An ultrasound image is taken before and after the applied
compression. The parts of the image that show the smallest compression are the
least elastic and are most likely regions of diseased tissue.
Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) is a relatively new (in use since
2009) technique that provides detailed 3-dimensional information about tissue.
The technique does not utilize ultrasound and is at present most usefully used in
liver examinations. The tissue is distorted by a low-frequency pulsating force
while images are taken using magnetic resonance imaging techniques (See
Ch. 17.2). The technique provides detail and accuracy that were previously
obtainable only through biopsy. Further, while biopsy provides information
only about relatively small selected regions of the organ, at times possibly miss-
ing important regions of pathology, MRE yields an image of the whole organ.

EXERCISES
12-1. The intensity of a sound produced by a point source decreases as the
square of the distance from the source. Consider a riveter as a point
source of sound and assume that the intensities listed in Table 12.1
are measured at a distance 1 m away from the source. What is the
maximum distance at which the riveter is still audible? (Neglect losses
due to energy absorption in the air.)
12-2. Referring to Table 12.1, approximately how much louder does busy
street traffic sound than a quiet radio?
12-3. Calculate the pressure variation corresponding to a sound intensity of
1016 W=cm2 . (The density of air at 0°C and 1 atm pressure is 1:29
103 g=cm3 ; for the speed of sound use the value 3:3  104 cm=sec .)
12-4. Explain why the relative sizes of the eardrum and the oval window
result in pressure magnification in the inner ear.
12-5. Explain how a bat might use the differences in the frequency content of
its chirp and echo to estimate the size of an object.
12-6. With a 70-msec space between chirps, what is the farthest distance at
which a bat can detect an object?
12-7. In terms of diffraction theory, discuss the limitations on the size of the
object that a bat can detect with its echo location.
12-8. A stethoscope tube has an inner diameter of 0.7 cm, and its length is
70 cm. Sound traveling along the tube attenuates 3 dB/m. What is
192 Physics in Biology and Medicine

the intensity of the faintest sound emanating from the surface of the
body that the examiner can detect? Use data in Table 12.1
12-9. Estimate the smallest size of objects in soft tissue that can be detected
with ultrasound at a frequency of 5  106 Hz. The speed of sound in
soft tissue is 1540 m/s. Assume that the optimum spatial resolution
is approximately the wavelength of the probing ultrasound.
12-10. With the help of a basic physics text book explain the Doppler effect,
and derive Eq. 12.6.
12-11. Estimate the increase in tissue temperature when 0.15 cm3 volume of
tissue is exposed to 12 W of ultrasound for 1 s. Assume that the den-
sity of the tissue is 1 g/cm3, the specific heat (or heat capacity) is
1 cal g1 °C1, and the amount of heat conducted away from the
heated area during the 1 s pulse interval is negligible.