The paper presents a cross section of beneficial applications which illustrate the wide variety of present day uses of acoustic emission surveillance. These uses range from detection of flaws in pressure vessels during hydrostatic testing to inspection of building floors for detecting weak points, detection of impending failure in localized segments of rock structure in mining, and process control in metal forming work. While these examples are not all inclusive, they do show that acoustic emission is not just a laboratory novelty and that beneficial use of the phenomenon is beginning to be realized.