Combustion instabilities, due to dynamical phenomena in the combustion system, may lead to strong noise emissions in modern industrial and domestic heating devices. Lean premixed burners are often used in these systems helping to respect the pollutant legislations. On the other hand, these kind of burners are more sensitive to dynamical phenomena, and acoustical coupling with other system compounds may occur. In order to predict the acoustical response of a given combination of burner, boiler and chimney system, the acoustical transfer function of the burner is necessary. In this study we present the experimental determination of the transfer function of a 22 kW commercial fuel swirl burner, mounted in a corresponding boiler, for different operational conditions. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.