The purpose of this study is to verify the vibration and damping characteristics of elastic-viscoelastic-elastic structures, theoretically and experimentally. The forth-order differential equations of motion are derived for the transverse vibration of three-layered plates with viscoelastic core layer. The equations consider both transverse displacements of the constraining layer and the bare base plate as variable and account for the effect of the transverse normal strain and the shear strain of viscoelastic core layer on the vibration of the plates. Finite difference analysis of the equations and experimental measurements are performed on the three-layered plates of completely free boundary condition. Comparative investigations on the theory and the results of direct frequency analysis of NASTRAN are carried out on the same structures.