  Ultrasound image degradation in the human body is complex and occurs due to
the distortion of the wave as it propagates to and from the target. Here, we
establish a simulation based framework that deconstructs the sources of image
degradation into a separable parameter space that includes phase aberration
from speed variation, multiple reverberations, and trailing reverberation.
These separable parameters are then used to reconstruct images with known and
independently modulable amounts of degradation using methods that depend on the
additive or multiplicative nature of the degradation. Experimental measurements
and Fullwave simulations in the human abdomen demonstrate this calibrated
process in abdominal imaging by matching relevant imaging metrics such as phase
aberration, reverberation strength, speckle brightness and coherence length.
Applications of the reconstruction technique are illustrated for beamforming
strategies (phase aberration correction, spatial coherence imaging), in a
standard abdominal environment, as well as in impedance ranges much higher than
those naturally occurring in the body.
