Automatic gain control in medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging

Gain is adjusted automatically in ultrasound imaging. The average of signals regardless of type of reflector (e.g., tissue or fluid) is determined, such as from all data in a frame of data representing a scanned region. The gain is set based on the difference between the average and the target. The gain offset is used with or without other gain limitations for analog, digital, or both analog and digital amplifiers. Given less computational expense, a same processor performing image processing functions may be used to also determine gain. A handheld ultrasound scanner with less computation bandwidth may implement the automatic gain adjustment. Given limited space for input devices, a depth gain may be provided without sliders or other depth based gain input.