ON INFERRING SPEED OF SOUND IN AQUATIC ORGANISMS

A previous formula used for inferring speed of sound in marine organis ms is considered and compared with the result from a wave scattering t heory. Comparison indicates that there exists a difference between the two results, and the difference increases with the relative sound-spe ed contrast, and with the ratio between the dimension of animals and t he acoustic wavelength. However, it is shown analytically that in the Rayleigh scattering regime and when the mass density difference betwee n the target organisms and the medium is negligible that the earlier f ormula can be recovered by the result from the wave scattering theory, thereby providing a further physical and mathematical basis to the pr evious formula. (C) 1998 Acoustical Society of America.