What is Ultrasound

Ultrasound is any sound above that which the human ear can detect, it is only within the last 60 years that the technology has existed to generate and detect this type of sound in a practical way. 

Ultrasound machines use the pulse-echo principle to produce images of structures within the body. The ultrasound probe (transducer) contains tiny crystals which vibrate to produce high frequency sound waves. This is what makes ultrasound probes so delicate and expensive, they can easily break if dropped or knocked. These sound waves pass through soft tissues until they hit the surface of a structure where an echo is produced which returns to the probe. The ultrasound machine uses the information from this returning echo to make the images on the screen. 

There is no known side effect, or any documented harm caused by the medical use of ultrasound therefore, making it the perfect for the assessment of pregnancy and medical diagnostic scanning 

2 dimensional scans are the images you will be familiar with from medical ultrasound scans. The strength of the returning sound waves means a shade of grey can be attached to it producing the images on the screen. We can use these grey scales and measurement information to make medical diagnoses. This is why the images you see from an ultrasound are seen in black, white and greyscales.