Comprehensive and accurate measurements of the speed of sound in pure ethane have been carried out in the liquid and supercritical regions by a double-path-length pulse-echo technique. The measured data cover the temperature range from 240 K to 420 K with pressures up to 100 MPa. The expanded measurement uncertainties at the 95 % confidence level amount to 2.1 mK for temperature, 0.007 % for pressure, and 0.01 % for speed of sound with the exception of a few state points in the vicinity of the critical point, where the uncertainty increases up to 0.016 %. The quality of the measurements is demonstrated by comparisons with literature data and the fundamental equation of state for ethane