This paper describes a deep groove ball-bearing analysis which has been developed to simulate acoustic emission occurring during ball-bearing operation. The computer simulation is useful to clarify experimental research on rolling contact fatigue initiation using the acoustic emission technique. Results show the ability of the method to detect and to locate a subsurface defect, due to rolling contact fatigue, before the rolling bearing failure occurs. The subsurface defect can be accurately located within the inner ring of a deep groove ball-bearing operating under radial load.