The properties of the renormalized speed of sound and of the scattering and transport mean-free paths in two- and three-dimensional media containing random distributions of identical, finite-size scattering centers are analyzed. In particular, the connections between the frequency dependence of these parameters and the structure of the exact single-scatterer cross section are investigated. Since a careful evaluation of the mean-free paths is necessary for the accurate prediction of localization phenomena, the implications of the results to the localization of acoustic excitations are discussed in detail.