Traditionally, the problem of monitoring the condition of rolling bearings can be solved based on registration of control signals that occur when the bearing performs a kinematic function due to contact of surface damage which is accumulated and caused by the processes of friction, impact, heat generation, contact electrical interaction, generation of elastic vibrations from them, etc. Relative to the bearing function of bearings, the diagnostic value of such signals is quite low, since they depend on many factors that are not related to resource-determining processes and play a destabilizing role in establishing the connection between control parameters and condition. The solution of the problem must be carried out based on a systematic approach linking the control of the object with the main criterion of its performance. Since the cause of bearing failures is fatigue processes occurring in the material of their elements, the most promising methods are those based on the registration of signals associated with the restructuring of the structure and the accumulation of damage of the material, and in particular, the method of acoustic emission (AE) based on recording the phenomenon of waves of elastic radiation at loading. The development of the acoustic emission method for monitoring the state of rolling bearings is based on a multi-level model of the time dependence of AE parameters, and the control is based on the assessment of the intensity parameters of the resource-determining stage of uniform elastic fracture of representative structural elements of the material of the test object. AE informative signals are selected, and diagnostic parameters are determined at the interlevel transition from macro- to micro- and nano-level. The idea of the transitions is to select representative informative parameters and to trace the connection between them through AE strength indicators that can highlight a useful signal in conditions of high instability and heterogeneity of the accompanying processes. The experimental stup and the results of experimental studies of AE of rolling bearings with an artificially created defect on the surface of the outer ring are described, the results of control are compared with the results of the analysis of the stress-strain state around the created defect, the informative value of the concentration and kinetic index and the possibility of evaluating the resource based on it are shown.