The damage evolution of coal is accompanied by the generation of acoustic emission (AE) signal. Through the analysis and research of AE response characteristics of coal deformation and failure, it is helpful to reveal the initiation, propagation and fracture evolution of micro cracks in coal. In this work, taking the anthracite coal as research object, the basic mechanical parameters of coal samples were obtained by ultrasonic tests and uniaxial compression experiments. Meanwhile, the AE response characteristics of coal samples during uniaxial compression were obtained through AE experiments. The results show that when the density is low, the wave velocity of coal sample decreases with the increase of density. When the density is higher than a certain value, the wave velocity of coal sample increases with the increase of density. Through the measurement of ultrasonic wave velocity, it is found that there are some non-uniformity and anisotropy in raw coal samples. The distribution of ring count, energy count and AE events with time in uniaxial compression process is approximately normal distribution. The AE events are concentrated in the elastic stage and yield stage, and the energy amplitude of AE events is higher in the plastic stage. Compared with the ring count and energy count, the AE events have good positioning function, which can better reflect the evolution of internal cracks in coal samples during uniaxial compression.