The technique used analyses reflections from fruit under dry coupling conditions to assess the acoustic and physical properties of the fruit. When the transducer and fruit are held in contact with one another under dry coupling conditions, the transducer is partially coupled to the medium. As such, the overall acoustic impedance mismatch at the boundary of the transducer is influenced by the fruit’s acoustic and physical properties, allowing these properties to be measured without the need for the ultrasonic signal to propagate within the medium itself.