Applicability of the vibration signal phase for predicting the modal damping properties of structures is investigated. For uniform plates with different internal damping levels, the phase delay as a function of the frequency span as well as a function of the distance between the excitation and response measurement points are experimentally obtained. Dependence of the phase characteristics on the amount of structural damping is elucidated -more heavily damped plate shows notably reduced phase delay at intermediate distances. The experimental results compare favorably with analytical predictions, and show much promise for further refinement as a tool for estimating structural properties.