A particle size distribution monitor, comprising: a transducer adapted to be a source of ultrasonic energy and positioned in contact with a suspension containing a percent by volume of particles in a liquid, the transducer transmitting ultrasonic energy through the suspension wherein the energy comprises a wideband pulse containing a range of frequency components; a transducer adapted to be a receiver of ultrasonic energy and positioned in contact with said suspension to receive said wideband range of ultrasonic energy which has passed through the suspension; a first means adapted to accept a signal from said receiver and make an instantaneous determination of the attenuation of the wideband ultrasonic energy in passing through the suspension.A method of monitoring the particle size distribution of particles in a suspension under dynamic conditions, comprising the steps of: transmitting a first pulse of ultrasonic energy containing a wideband range of frequency components through the suspension which attenuates the pulse; receiving the attenuated pulse after it has passed through the suspension; developing a first signal representative of the attenuated first pulse; digitizing the first signal with a high speed analog-to-digital converter to form a time domain signal; applying a Fourier transform to convert the time domain signal to an equivalent frequency domain signal, or spectrum, for each signal; converting the spectrum into dB to express the attenuation as a function of frequency.