What happens to sound waves when they contact bone during an ultrasound?

In the context of ultrasound and the interaction of sound waves with different tissues, when sound waves encounter bone, they reflect significantly and create high-intensity echoes. This phenomenon occurs because bone is much denser than the soft tissues typically encountered by ultrasound waves. The difference in acoustic impedance between bone and surrounding tissues causes a large portion of the sound waves to reflect off the bone rather than pass through it.

This reflection is crucial in medical imaging because the high-intensity echoes generated by the bones can be instrumental in constructing detailed images of the body's internal structures during an ultrasound examination. The resulting echoes are then captured by the ultrasound machine and converted into visual information, allowing healthcare professionals to visualize and assess various conditions.

While ultrasound waves can pass through soft tissues with varying degrees of absorption and reflection, bone acts as a strong reflector due to its solid and dense nature, making it a reliable feature on ultrasound images. The other options do not accurately represent the relationship between ultrasound waves and bone, as sounds do not pass through with little reflection, nor are they absorbed completely or scattered to create noise in the same way they would be in different types of tissues.