A maximum likelihood method for obtaining integrated attenuation from ultrasound transmission mode measurements

In photoacoustic imaging applications an image is reconstructed of the optical absorption distribution the imaged object. The photoacoustic measurements however are also dependent on acoustic properties of the imaged object. By estimating the acoustic properties from photoacoustic measurements, we can improve the performance of the optical absorption reconstruction and allow for the imaging of separate acoustic modalities. We derive and evaluate a maximum likelihood estimator for the measurements of integrated acoustic attenuation. This estimator is applicable to media like soft tissue. In this kind of media, the attenuation due to dissipative effects obeys a frequency power law. By measuring the propagation of ultrasound signals through such a medium, the parameters that describe the attenuation can be estimated. In this paper a new method is introduced for estimating the attenuation of ultrasound media by means of transmission mode measurements. The method is based on analyzing the noise characteristics of the received signals and the formulation of a maximum likelihood estimator. The new estimator is compared to existing methods and was found to be a better estimator in terms of the RMS error than previous methods