Provided are an apparatus and method of detecting a pulse wave at the certain position of an artery. A pressure sensor array has a pressurization surface on which plural pressure sensors are disposed in a direction intersecting with an artery. The pressurization surface, when a pulse wave is detected, is pressed against a surface of a living human body by a cuff pressure in a pressurization cuff. CPU, when a pulse wave is detected, inputs voltage signals indicating pressure information from the plural pressure sensors simultaneously along with the time axis. CPU extracts the DC component indicating a pressure component caused by a hard member from a voltage signal to specify the pressure sensor located above the hard member from the extracted DC component. The pressure sensors left after the specified pressure sensor located above the hard member among the plural pressure sensors are selected as candidates of the pressure sensor located above the artery to detect a pulse wave generated in the artery based on pressure information outputted from the selected pressure sensors.