At a duty cycle of 50%, what aspect of the ultrasound is affected?

At a duty cycle of 50%, the aspect of ultrasound that is affected is the duration it is on compared to off. The duty cycle refers to the fraction of time that the ultrasound is "on" during a treatment session. In this case, a 50% duty cycle indicates that the ultrasound is active for half of the treatment time and inactive for the other half. This modulation in on/off times can influence thermal and non-thermal effects in tissues due to the cycling of energy input, making it crucial for therapeutic applications.

The duty cycle does not inherently change the intensity of the waves, as intensity is a function of both the power output and the effective radiating area; it simply reflects how that power is administered over time. While frequency pertains to the rate of wave cycles per second and is an inherent characteristic of the ultrasound machine, it is not impacted by the duty cycle's on/off ratio. Additionally, penetration depth is influenced more by the frequency of the ultrasound and tissue characteristics rather than the duty cycle itself. Therefore, understanding the duty cycle is essential for manipulating treatment effects during ultrasound therapy.