The quantification and utilization of coupling effects in a prototypical structural acoustic system are examined in this paper. In typical systems, the coupling mechanisms are manifested in two ways. The first leads to the transfer of energy from an ambient field to an adjacent structure and is often responsible for exogenous structural excitation. The second involves the transfer of energy from the vibrating structure to an adjacent field. This is the source of structure-borne noise and is ultimately the mechanism through which structural actuators are utilized to attenuate noise. The examples presented here demonstrate that in fully coupled systems, both mechanisms should be incorporated to accurately model system dynamics. The examples also illustrate advantages and limitations of compensators which utilize the accurate modeling of the structural coupling.