Let T be the first exit time of Brownian motion W(t) from a region ℛ in d-dimensional Euclidean space having a smooth boundary. Given points ξ0 and ξ1 in ℛ, ordinary and large-deviation approximations are given for Pr{T < ε |W(0) = ξ0, W(ε) = ξ 1} as ε → 0. Applications are given to hearing the shape of a drum and approximating the second virial coefficient.