First, we consider the linear wave equation u ttThe damping function a is allowed to change its sign. If a := 1 L L 0 a(x) dx is positive and the spectrum of the operator (∂ xx − b) is negative, exponential stability is proved for small a − a L 2 . Explicit estimates of the decay rate ω are given in terms of a and the largest eigenvalue of (∂ xx − b). Second, we show the existence of a global, small, smooth solution of the corresponding nonlinear wave equation u tt − σ (u x ) x + a(x)u t + b(x)u = 0, if, additionally, the negative part of a is small enough compared with ω.