Perhaps, this is the first attempt which applies the wavelet transform to the fundamental vibration mode for damage detection in a beam. Contrary to most existing detection methods on mode shapes, the present method directly works only with the fundamental mode of a damaged beam: no vibration mode shape of a undamaged beam is necessary. Applying the concept of vanishing moments of wavelet functions, we show that wavelet functions are effective damage detectors. Both numerical and experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the present method