An ultrasonic transducer according to the present invention emits an ultrasonic wave in response to an input of an electric signal, converts a plurality of ultrasonic waves incident from the outside into an electric signal, a plurality of piezoelectric elements, and the ultrasonic wave Arranged between the ultrasonic emission surface of the transducer and masks any of the divided areas obtained by dividing the elevation direction perpendicular to the plane parallel to the ultrasonic scanning direction into multiple areas. A mask unit that reflects ultrasonic waves in a direction different from the propagation direction of the ultrasonic waves in the masked divided region and allows the ultrasonic waves to pass in the propagation direction in the divided regions other than the masked divided region. It was.本発明に係る超音波振動子は、電気信号の入力に応じて超音波を出射するとともに、外部から入射した超音波を電気信号に変換する複数の圧電素子と、複数の圧電素子と当該超音波振動子における超音波の放射面との間に設けられ、超音波による走査方向に平行な平面と直交するエレベーション方向を複数の領域に分割してなる分割領域のうち任意の分割領域をマスク可能であり、マスクした分割領域において、超音波を、該超音波の伝搬方向と異なる方向に反射し、マスクした分割領域以外の分割領域において、超音波を伝搬方向に通過させるマスク部と、を備えた。
