Abstract This paper deals with the vibration-based diagnosis of rolling element bearings in the presence of strong interfering gear signals, such as is typical of helicopter gearboxes. The key idea consists in recognizing gear signals as purely periodic, whereas bearing signals experience some randomness and are close to cyclostationary, i.e. with a periodic bivariate autocorrelation function. This assertion is demonstrated by introducing a comprehensive model for the vibration generating process of bearing faults: distinctions are made between localized and distributed faults, between cyclostationary and pseudo-cyclostationary processes, and between additive and multiplicative interactions with gear signals. Finally, an original diagnostic procedure is proposed and its performance illustrated using simulated, experimental and actual cases.