Correction for Spatial Averaging Artifacts for Circularly-Symmetric Pressure Beams Measured with Membrane Hydrophones

This paper investigates experimental underestimation of pressure measurements due to spatial averaging across a hydrophone sensitive element. Empirical relationships are measured to enable correction for hydrophone spatial averaging errors in peak compressional pressure (pc), peak rarefactional pressure (pr), and pulse intensity integral (Pii). The empirical relationships show, for example, that if a 3-MHz, F/2 transducer is driven to moderate nonlinear distortion and measured at the focal point with a 500-µm membrane hydrophone, then spatial averaging errors are approximately 16% (pc), 12% (pr), and 24% (Pii).