This study is aimed to evaluate a tunneling effect in the laboratory measurement of sound transmission loss. Based on the formulation for sound transmission loss of a finite panel in the presence of tunnel, variations of the sound transmission loss with the parameters of panel location and tunnel depth are investigated. In comparison with the transmission loss of a finite plate in an infinite rigid baffle, the maximum difference occurs in the laboratory measurement when the panel is placed at the center of the tunnel, while a better estimation of true transmission loss is obtained when the panel is located at either end.