The finite difference calculations of Neely [E.D. thesis, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (1977)] and the WKB solution of Steele and Taber [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 65, 1001–1006 (1979)]generally agree, except in the ’’phase plateau’’ region, where both are irregular. In the present work, an improvement in the accuracy of the WKB procedure is gained by using a closed‐form integral which gives the phase and damping functions in the short wavelength region. The present results agree qualitatively with the preceding but show a smooth variation with frequency and distance along the cochlea.