The invention relates to a nondestructive ultrasonic test method in which at least one ultrasonic pulse is emitted into a workpiece under test by means of at least one ultrasonic transmitter (3), the ultrasonic pulse is reflected on boundary surfaces within the workpiece, the reflected ultrasound is received by at least one ultrasonic receiver (2), and the associated signals are evaluated, the ultrasound penetrating a damping block (4) that is arranged between the workpiece and the transmitter or receiver. Said method is characterized in that it includes at least one step for determining the sound velocity in the damping block (4) by means of an array-type probe (1) comprising selectively controllable transducers; in said step, at least one first transducer (3) of the array-type probe (1) is used as the transmitter of at least one ultrasonic pulse, while at least one second transducer (2) of the array-type probe (1) is used as the receiver of the ultrasonic pulse, and the sound velocity in the damping block (4) is determined at least by measuring the propagation time of the ultrasound along the shortest distance (e1, e2) of the ultrasound between the respective transducers (2, 3) that are placed at a distance from each other.