To provide a photoacoustic apparatus recognizable of variation in reception characteristics of a plurality of receiving elements, that detect an acoustic wave in the photoacoustic apparatus, with a simple configuration unique to the photoacoustic apparatus.

The photoacoustic apparatus includes: a light source 100 to irradiate an analyte with light; a detecting unit 104 comprising the plurality of receiving elements to detect an acoustic wave that is generated when the analyte is irradiated with light; a signal processing unit 108 to acquire information about the inside of the analyte from a detected signal acquired from the detecting unit; an optical absorber 102 to absorb the light irradiated from the light source; and a reception characteristic calculation unit 107 to calculate reception characteristic information of the plurality of receiving elements on the basis of detected signals when the plurality of receiving elements receive an acoustic wave that is generated from the optical absorber.