PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultrasonic probe for detecting an abnormality occurring in an individual element in a CMUT probe, and suppressing an impact on another element by the element in which the abnormality is occurring.SOLUTION: An ultrasonic probe includes: a transducer provided with a plurality of elements which are constituted by arranging cells having a pair of electrodes disposed spaced apart from each other and a vibration membrane including one of the pair of the electrodes voltage application means for applying a voltage between the pair of the electrodes constituting the element detection means for detecting a characteristic change between the pair of the electrodes constituting the element and voltage application stop means for stopping the voltage application based on detection information detected by the detection means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1COPYRIGHT: (C)2018,JPO&INPIT【課題】 CMUTプローブ内の個別素子で発生した異常を検知し、異常の発生した素子が与える他の素子への影響を抑制した超音波プローブを提供する。【解決手段】 間隙を隔てて配置された一対の電極と、該一対の電極のうちの一方の電極を含む振動膜と、を有するセルを配して構成された複数の素子を備えたトランスデューサと、前記素子を構成する前記一対の電極間に電圧を印加する電圧印加手段と、前記素子を構成する前記一対の電極間の特性変化を検出する検出手段と、前記検出手段で検出される検出情報に基づき、前記電圧印加を停止する電圧印加停止手段と、を有する超音波プローブ。【選択図】 図1
