Glossary
Diagnostic Medical Sonographer Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential diagnostic medical sonographer terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key diagnostic medical sonographer vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in diagnostic medical sonographer training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Acoustic window
- A path through the body that allows sound to reach the target organ.
- Anechoic
- Producing no echoes; appears black, like fluid.
- Artifact
- Something on the image that does not reflect real anatomy.
- B-mode
- Brightness mode: the standard grayscale ultrasound image.
- Depth
- How far into the body the image displays.
- Doppler
- Ultrasound technique that measures blood flow direction and speed.
- Echogenic
- Producing echoes; appears bright on the image.
- Gain
- A control that brightens or darkens the overall image.
- High-level disinfection
- A cleaning process required for probes that contact mucous membranes.
- Hypoechoic
- Producing fewer echoes than surrounding tissue; appears darker.
- Protocol
- The required set of images and measurements for an exam.
- Sagittal
- A lengthwise plane that divides the body into left and right.
- Spectral waveform
- A Doppler display of blood flow velocity over time.
- Transducer
- The handheld probe that sends and receives sound waves.
- Transverse
- A crosswise plane that divides the body into top and bottom.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Diagnostic Medical Sonographer practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Diagnostic Medical Sonographer training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.