Bone assessment apparatus and method

摘要

A bone assessment apparatus for obtaining an assessment value E for a bone 12 with good repeatability by simple calculation using the waveform of a signal derived from received ultrasound which has passed through the bone. A transmitting transducer (20) transmits an ultrasound pulse. A receiving transducer (22) receives the ultrasound pulse which has passed through a test sample (10), and then converts the received ultrasound pulse to a signal. An A/D converter (30) digitizes the signal amplified in a receiving amplifier (28). The digitized signal is inputted to a calculator (32) via a transducer controller (26). The calculator (32) calculates the assessment value E for the bone (12) from characteristic values of the waveform of the signal, such as the half-value width of the first positive portion, which are derived from ultrasonic transmission characteristics of the bone (12).