A method of determining speed of rotation of a motor is provided. The method involves collecting samples with a measuring sensor at a sampling frequency, set on the basis of mechanical vibration of the motor, for the duration of a measurement period and storing the samples in the memory of a data carrier as measurement data of a fixed format. The speed of rotation of the motor is determined from the measurement data by determining the cycle length of a periodic vibration signal in the time domain by a maximum likelihood estimate calculated by maximizing a maximum likelihood function adjusted to the measurement data, the speed of rotation being obtained from the frequency point where the maximum likelihood function obtains its maximum value.