Diffusing wave spectroscopy's (DWS) sensitivity to local shear rate has been used to investigate the nonlinear rheology of (1) a doped shear thinning, semidilute polymer solution measured in the cone-plate and parallel-plate geometries and of (2) doped shear banding wormlike micelles solutions measured in the cylindrical-Couette geometry. DWS measurements of the semidilute polymer solution in the cone-plate geometry under stress controlled conditions were used to construct a flow curve for the material, the expected radial dependence of the local shear rate being demonstrated in the parallel-plate geometry. The method is shown to be sensitive to shear banding in semidilute wormlike micelles in the cylindrical-Couette geometry under strain controlled conditions, and DWS correlation functions were quantitatively interpreted using a heterogeneous shear flow model. Flow curves and shear rate profiles were inferred from these measurements. (C) 2008 The Society of Rheology.