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It is shown here that ultrasonic measurements can provide accurate information on an adhesive layer whose thickness is negligible compared with the wavelength. In this case, the adhesive layer can be considered as a simple interface between two elastic solids. This kind of contact enables small discontinuities of stresses or displacements between both substrates. A simple formulation is introduced to take into account these discontinuities expressed in terms of imperfect boundary conditions. It is shown that this formulation is consistent with exact calculation in layered media. The range of applications of this model and its limits is also investigated. This model is used to infer quantitative data on the changes in mechanical properties of a thin bonding layer (about 5 pm) from reflection coefficient measurements during its hardening process. The results obtained are in excellent agreement with ultrasonic measurement in bulk. 3264