We study quasinormal modes and scattering properties via calculation of the
$S$-matrix for scalar and electromagnetic fields propagating in the background
of spherically and axially symmetric, traversable Lorentzian wormholes of a
generic shape. Such wormholes are described by the Morris-Thorne ansatz and its
axially symmetric generalization. The properties of quasinormal ringing and
scattering are shown to be determined by the behavior of the wormhole's shape
function $b(r)$ and shift factor $\Phi(r)$ \emph{near the throat}. In
particular, wormholes with the shape function $b(r)$, such that $b'(r) \approx
1$, have very long-lived quasinormal modes in the spectrum. We have proved that
the axially symmetric traversable Lorentzian wormholes, unlike black holes and
other compact rotating objects, do not allow for superradiance. As a by product
we have shown that the 6th order WKB formula used for scattering problems of
black or wormholes provides high accuracy and thus can be used for quite
accurate calculations of the Hawking radiation processes around various black
holes.Comment: 17 pages, the automatic procedure for calculations of the 6th order
WKB quasinormal modes and reflection/transmission coefficients can be found
on http://fma.if.usp.br/~konoplya/ .The procedure is authomatic and can be
applied for various black and worm-holes; references adde