Some features of the Barkhausen effect in randomly oriented, polycrystalline rods of Fe‐3. 2% Si have been studied by the inductive search coil method utilizing pulse height analysis. For the annealed condition, the number, NT, and average amplitude, ⟨h⟩, of Barkhausen pulses were found to be essentially independent of elastic tensile strain, but to increase markedly with elastic compressive strain. The values of NTand ⟨h⟩ increased monotonically with plastic tensile strain, being significantly greater for the unloaded state compared to the loaded state. A pronounced minimum was observed in the distribution of Barkhausen jumps along a branch of the hysteresis loop. The results are tentatively interpreted in terms of two different jump mechanisms.