Acoustic emission (AE) signals, emanated during local failure of aluminum alloys, have been the subject of numerous investigations. It is well known that the characteristics of AE are strongly influenced by the previous thermal and mechanical treatment of the sample. Possible sources of AE during deformation have been suggested as the avalanche motion of dislocations, fracture of brittle particles, and debonding of these particles from the alloy matrix. The goal of the present study is to determine if AE occurring as the result of fatigue crack propagation could be evaluated by the joint time-frequency analysis method, short time Fourier transform (STFT), and Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD). The time-frequency analysis methods can be used to analyze non-stationary AE more effectively than conventional techniques. STFT is more effective than WVD in analyzing AE signals. Noise and frequency characteristics of crack openings and closures could be separated using STFT. The influence of various fatigue parameters on the frequency characteristics of AE signals was investigated.