Vascular conditions are detected noninvasively in the human body using a collection of information from small local regions of the vasculature, or from a specific signature or "BrainPulse" that can be derived from a patient's heartbeat- induced cranium movements. An array of accelerometers or other sensors are engaged against the head of a patient and skull movements, preferably under 100 Hz, are recorded. Vibration signatures of vessel structures such as branches, aneurysms, stenosis, etc. using random, periodic, band limited or transient analysis provides a library for further processing. The signature library is used to localize the origin of the recognized vascular feature, and the localized feature is presented to the physician in a clinically relevant manner.