Idle thought:

[cdave]

Colour is (badly) defined as the relative amount of one three frequencies of light waves reflected off a visible point.

Could you make a false colour ultrasound image by using three different frequencies of ultrasound? If so would they be of any use?

Comments

[sharikkamur.livejournal.com]

You can define 'false colour' using any combination of colours; all you're doing is colour-coding particular areas using a defined code set.

The ultrasound approach is more like the astronomical approach of viewing something through multiple filters and then shifting the wavelengths to the visible. Astronomical images are often false-coloured because they are made up of a set of particular wavelengths - Hα comes immediately to mind.

Of course, ultrasound is a longitudinal wave form, not a transverse waveform. How about thinking of a multi-frequency ultrasound as a polyphonic piece of music instead of a single tone?

Hmm... there's an art idea - transforming your ultrasound baby scans into orchestral pieces.

[cdave]

I think the false colour scanner idea would be possible to make, but don't know enough about the reflective properties of organs to know whether there would be any benefits to it.

As for turning it into sound, Reminds me of an idea Douglas Adams had.

[sharikkamur.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'd forgotten that one. Just goes to prove what I've thought for a while - it's time to re-read Dirk Gently.