Signal‐to‐Noise Ratio as a Function of Imaging Parameters

Abstract

Signal‐to‐Noise Ratio as a Function of Imaging Parameters (Azim Celik, General Electric Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Weili Lin, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina). The degree to which noise affects a measurement is generally characterized by the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR, as measured by the ratio of the voxel signal to the noise standard deviation). This unit describes the importance of SNR in describing image quality. SNR is the key parameter for determining the quality of any given imaging experiment. If the SNR is not high enough, it becomes impossible to differentiate tissues from one another or the background. The dependence of SNR on imaging parameters such as the number of repetitions, the number of k‐space samples (Nx, Ny, and Nz), the readout bandwidth, and voxel dimensions (Dx, Dy, and Dz) is explained in detail.