Total respiratory impedance was obtained from 4 to 30 Hz in 39 healthy males and in 140 iron miners by studying the relationship between transrespiratory pressure and mouth flow when forced oscillations were applied to the respiratory system in two different ways: by varying pressure at the mouth (input impedance, Zin); by varying pressure around the chest (transfer impedance, Ztr). Zin was characterized by the slope (S) and intercept (R0) of the resistance-frequency curve, by the resonant frequency (fn), and by total respiratory inertance (I) and compliance (C) obtained from the reactance. Transfer resistance and reactance curves were respectively analysed with a two-parameter (m1, m3) and a three-parameter (m0, m2, m4) equation. Significant correlations were found between impedance indices, particularly between m1 and both R0 (r = 0.931; p less than 0.001) and m2 (r = 0.739; p less than 0.001), and also between impedance indices and maximal expiratory flows. Nonsmoking miners (n = 40), compared to control nonsmokers (n = 16), had slightly lower maximal flows at high lung volumes (p less than 0.05) and higher values of m1 (p less than 0.001), R0, S, m3 (p less than 0.01) and m2 (p less than 0.05). In contrast, miners who smoked (n = 46) mainly differed from miners who did not smoke by lower flows at middle and low lung volumes (p less than 0.01) and larger m0 (p less than 0.01), m2 and m4 (p less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)