The present invention relates to an ultrasonic sensor apparatus (10) comprising a multiplicity of ultrasonic sensors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), and a controller (7) for actuating the ultrasonic sensors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), wherein the controller (7) is configured to selectively activate either a first group of the ultrasonic sensors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) or a second group of the ultrasonic sensors (1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6) at the same time such that the activated ultrasonic sensors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) emit an ultrasonic signal, wherein each ultrasonic sensor (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) of the first group is arranged adjacent to at least one ultrasonic sensor (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) of the second group and each ultrasonic sensor (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) of the second group is arranged adjacent to at least one ultrasonic sensor (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) of the first group, and wherein the controller (7) is configured to actuate adjacently lying active ultrasonic sensors with different frequency-modulated excitation patterns (100, 200, 300).