In this study, a experimental work to investigate the influence of a turbulent wake flow on the velocity distribution of a diffuser with PIV method. The turbulent wake is generated by a rectangular prism, which is installed at the inlet of a diffuser. The results show that the velocity recovery of the subsonic diffuser is dependent on the height and location of rectangular prism. It is found that a certain height of the rectangular prism to generate the turbulent wake give a better velocity recovery, compared with no rectangular prism.