Phase velocity and attenuation predictions of waves in cancellous bone using an iterative effective medium approximation

The quantitative determination of wave dispersion and attenuation in bone is an open research area as the factors responsible for ultrasound absorption and scattering in composite biological tissues have not been completely explained. In this study, we use the iterative effective medium approximation (IEMA) proposed in [1] so as to calculate phase velocity and attenuation in media with properties similar to those of cancellous bones. Calculations are performed for a frequency range of 0.4 - 0.8 MHz and for different inclusions´ volume concentrations and sizes. Our numerical results are compared with previous experimental findings [2] so as to assess the effectiveness of IEMA. It was made clear that attenuation and phase velocity estimations could provide supplementary information for cancellous bone characterization.