Comparison of Three Aberration Correction Techniques in Transcranial Synthetic Aperture Ultrasound Imaging Using Experimental Wavefront Estimation

Phase aberrations remain a major obstacle in diagnostic ultrasound imaging, particularly for transcranial applications where heterogeneous tissues distort wavefront propagation. While existing correction methods show promise, they often face trade-offs between accuracy and practical implementation. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of three aberration correction techniques for synthetic aperture ultrasound imaging, quantify improvements in image quality metrics and evaluate computational efficiency and practical limitations of each method. The investigation evaluated Legendre polynomial approximation method for wavefront correction, direct phase estimation technique optimizing computational efficiency and beacon based approach requiring auxiliary transducer repositioning. Experiments employed a sector array transducer operating in synthetic aperture mode. Performance was assessed using three different distorting layers, with quantitative metrics including peak intensity, root-mean-square width, full-width at half-maximum, and signal-to-noise ratio measurements before and after correction. Experimental findings indicate significant enhancements in peak intensity, a decrease in root-mean-square width, and improvements in full-width at half-maximum when compared to images that have not undergone correction. Both correction methods effectively recovered image quality, with peak intensity restoration reaching 92.4% for the direct method and 90.7% for the polynomial-based approach, which required greater computational resources. While each technique effectively enhances image quality in synthetic aperture systems, implementation choices depend on specific application requirements. All these methods collectively advance aberration correction capabilities but remain limited to systems supporting synthetic aperture acquisition and raw radiofrequency data access.