A defect detection method includes the following processes: a) stroboscopically illuminating the entire surface of an object within an examination area of the object while inducing a first elastic wave across the examination area on the object, and controlling the phase of the elastic wave and the timing of the stroboscopic illumination to collectively measure a back-and-forth displacement of each point within the examination area in at least three phases of the elastic wave; b) identifying a surface location which is the location of a defect on the examination area, based on the back-and-forth displacement of each point within the examination area in the at least three different phases; and c) injecting a second elastic wave into a region inside the surface location from a limited area including the surface location, and determining the location and/or size in the depth direction of the defect, based on a response wave.