Comments on ‘‘Distortion of finite amplitude ultrasound in lossy media,’’ by M. E. Haran and B. D. Cook [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 73, 774–779 (1983)]

Readers of the subject paper might conclude that Haran and Cook are the first to derive an alogorithm based on Burgers’ equation which calculates the nonlinear propagation of a plane wave in a lossy medium with nonquadratic frequency‐dependent absorption coefficients. In fact, we presented such an algorithm in an earlier paper [D. H. Trivett and A. L. Van Buren, ‘‘Propagation of plane, cylindrical, and spherical finite amplitude waves,’’ J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 69, 943–949 (1981)] and we feel that the Haran and Cook’s reference to our work was insufficient. Although the derivation given by Haran and Cook is correct, it contains an inconsistency in notation. Also, their numerical results for propagation in fresh water correspond to different initial conditions than stated in the paper.