The systems and methods described herein are for monitoring the tightness of bolts. The systems and methods may be used with a mechanism to apply a percussive tap and with a recording or monitoring device for detecting and recording the acoustic signals that are generated by the percussive tap. The acoustic signals generated by percussive taps applied to bolts in various looseness states are analyzed and a machine learning model is developed that allows for determining bolt looseness based on the acoustic signals.