The time-of-flight diffraction technique for measuring the surface-opening crack depth is based on the use of transient stress waves which are introduced into the concrete by tapping a small steel sphere against a concrete surface. The data acquisition system is triggered by the receiver close to the impact point. The initial time of the impact can be calculated by known distance and surface wave speed. The disadvantage of this indirect way is that many errors may be involved in the calculation. In this study, theory of error propagation is utilized to investigate the influence of each parameter. The results indicate that the inaccurate position of the first receiver will result in large error of crack depth measurement. And the percentage error of crack depth will increase with the decreasing of crack depth. By using the impator with sensible device, the initial time of impact can be recorded directly without the influence of inaccurate position of first receiver or surface wave speed error. Therefore the accuracy of crack depth measurement can be greatly improved.