In hydraulic turbines operating at part loads, a cavitating vortex structure appears at runner outlet. This helical vortex, called vortex rope, can be cavitating in its core if the local pressure is lower that the vaporization pressure. An actual concern is the detection of the cavitation apparition and the characterization of its level. This paper presents a potentially innovative method for the detection of the cavitating vortex presence based on acoustic methods. The method is tested on a reduced scale facility using two acoustic transceivers positioned in " V " configuration. The received signals were continuously recorded and their frequency content was chosen to fit the flow and the cavitating vortex. Experimental results showed that due to the increasing flow rate, the signal-vortex interaction is observed as modifications on the received signal's high order statistics and bandwidth. Also, the signal processing results were correlated with the data measured with a pressure sensor mounted in the cavitating vortex section. Finally it is shown that this non-intrusive acoustic approach can indicate the apparition, development and the damping of the cavitating vortex. For real scale facilities, applying this method is a work in progress.