We present the application of a general Green function formalism to the study of near- and far-field scattering of an incident acoustic plane wave by a perturbation (an inhomogeneity) existing at the planar surface of a substrate. The perturbing element will be a supported wire which, in principle, can have an arbitrary shape and composition. Considering the case of shear horizontal vibrations, we discuss for a wire of parabolic section the behavior of the scattered field as a function of frequency&ohgr;, of material parameters, and of incidence angle. At normal incidence, typical behaviors depend on the relative impedance and sound velocity of both materials. For an oblique incidence, there are a large variety of cases depending on &ohgr; and on material parameters; one typical behavior will be the predominance of a scattered wave towards the specular reflection direction. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.