Improved image quality using phase aberration correction and Dual Apodization with Cross-correlation

Dual Apodization with Cross-correlation (DAX) is a novel adaptive beamforming method which utilizes two distinct receive apodizations in suppressing sidelobes and clutter to improve ultrasound image contrast. Although DAX has been shown to minimize the effects of phase aberration and noise in a highly robust manner, its performance diminishes as aberrator strength increases. In this work, we propose combining DAX with a well-established aberration correction algorithm based on nearest neighbor cross-correlation (NNCC) to maximize improvement in image quality. Our simulation results presented in this work showed that the combined method achieves more improvements in image quality than using DAX alone or phase aberration correction method alone in the presence of weak and strong aberrators.