  An averaging method is applied to derive effective approximation to the
following singularly perturbed nonlinear stochastic damped wave equation \nu
u_{tt}+u_t=\D u+f(u)+\nu^\alpha\dot{W} on an open bounded domain
$D\subset\R^n$\,, $1\leq n\leq 3$\,. Here $\nu>0$ is a small parameter
characterising the singular perturbation, and $\nu^\alpha$\,, $0\leq \alpha\leq
1/2$\,, parametrises the strength of the noise. Some scaling transformations
and the martingale representation theorem yield the following effective
approximation for small $\nu$, u_t=\D u+f(u)+\nu^\alpha\dot{W} to an error of
$\ord{\nu^\alpha}$\,.
