The bearing assembly includes a rolling bearing including a rotatable
raceway member and a stationary raceway member. This bearing assembly
also includes a to-be-detected member carried by the raceway member and
having a magnetic characteristic which cyclically varies in a direction
circumferentially of the to-be-detected element and has a cycle matching
with one complete rotation of the raceway member, a magnetic sensor unit
carried by the raceway member in face-to-face relation with the
to-be-detected member, and a magnetic detecting circuit to supply an
electric power to the unit and to process an output signal from the unit
to provide an output to an external circuit. The magnetic characteristic
of the to-be-detected member represents a substantially sinusoidal
waveform rising and falling more steeply than a sinusoidal waveform at a
zero-crossing point.