In order to accurately detect a position of an artificial material inserted into a body of subject, with a simple structure, and to improve visibility of the artificial material in an ultrasonic image, an ultrasonic observation apparatus includes a frequency analyzer that analyzes a frequency of the echo signal to calculate a frequency spectrum, a feature data calculator that calculates feature data reflecting a frequency spectrum shape specific to an artificial material having a spatially regular structure, and an artificial material-highlighted image data generator that generates, based on the feature data, an image in which the artificial material is highlighted.
