Contrast resolution is the ability to distinguish between differences in intensity in an image. The measure is used in medical imaging to quantify the quality of acquired images. It is a difficult quantity to define because it depends on the human observer as much as the quality of the actual image. For example, the size of a feature affects how easily it is detected by the observer.
One definition of image contrast is:
where SA and SB are signal intensities for signal-producing structures A and B in the region of interest. A disadvantage of this definition is that the contrast C can be negative. An alternative definition is:
where Sref is a reference signal intensity, which is independent of the type of signal-producing structure under investigation.