Abstract: An apparatus and method for the measuring the transverse dimensions of a hole such as in an oil well including a sonde on which an electro-acoustic transducer is mounted in an off centered position in relation to the axis of the sonde. This transducer has two opposite active faces so as to simultaneously transmit acoustic pulses in diametrically opposite directions from the sonde. When the sonde is centered in the hole, the transducer picks up the echoes retransmitted by the wall of the hole in the two directions, at different times. A recording is made of these times and preferably also of an indication of the amplitude of each of these echoes to obtain both a diameter measurement and an indication of the condition of the hole surface. Several transducers are provided, superposed and oriented along various diameters distributed around the axis of the sonde.