Take incidence from A into B and first specify pressure amplitude. For a plane acoustic wave traveling normally to the interface, the acoustic impedance is . A right-moving wave has pressure amplitude , where is its fluid-velocity amplitude; a left-moving reflected wave has .
Let denote incident, reflected, and transmitted pressure amplitudes. Continuity of pressure and normal velocity at the interface gives
Solving the two linear equations gives the acoustic reflection and transmission at an interface coefficients
For the same perfect gas, take a common adiabatic index . The adiabatic sound speed satisfies . The equal equilibrium pressure therefore implies , giving
The word amplitude is otherwise ambiguous. For fluid velocity, or displacement at the same frequency, the corresponding answer is
These are consistent because pressure and velocity amplitudes differ by the impedance. As an energy check, the time-averaged acoustic intensity is , so its transmission coefficient is , even when the transmitted pressure amplitude exceeds the incident one.
Equal mean molecular weight alone does not logically guarantee equal . If the gases have different values of the adiabatic index, replace in these formulas by ; a density-only answer requires the common- assumption.
At normal incidence between lossless media with real positive acoustic impedances , continuity of pressure and normal particle velocity gives the pressure transmission amplitude . Since the mean acoustic intensity is , the fraction of incident energy transmitted is
This is acoustic reflection and transmission at an interface. With the supplied acoustic impedances,
A thin water-based gel layer excludes air gaps and approximately matches the body's acoustic impedance. About of incident energy would otherwise reflect at the air-body interface. The coupling is also needed on the return journey, so it strongly improves the detectable echo. These figures concern interface transmission, before absorption within tissue; the gel is approximated by the stated water value.