The present invention relates to a method for generating transverse elastic waves, a method and apparatus for acquiring images using the transverse elastic waves. The present disclosure provides a technique for generating transverse elastic waves by focusing the ultrasonic waves respectively on a number of focal points which are virtually present in a viscoelastic medium and also become wave sources of the transverse elastic waves, and controlling the generated transverse elastic waves to have peak positions with their overlapping points residing and translating in two line segments extending in parallel or at an acute angle to facilitate increasing elastic deformations of the viscoelastic medium to an appropriate level, and thus acquiring images with improved accuracy in the viscoelastic medium.
