Abstract: The calibration theory of acoustic emission(AE) sensor and the characterstics of several common simulated AE sources were introduced. A simple calibration method (comparative method) was presented to calibrate AE sensor used on pipeline leakage testing. The AE sensor calibration system based on pulsed surface wave sound field was built, several commercial and self-made AE sensors had been calibrated on it. The result of calibration and the effect of probe usage proved that the comparative method is viable on the calibration of AE sensor.