  We use a numerical simulation to investigate the effectiveness of pinhole
spatial filters at optical/IR interferometers and to compare them with
single-mode optical fibre spatial filters and interferometers without spatial
filters. We show that fringe visibility measurements in interferometers
containing spatial filters are much less affected by changing seeing conditions
than equivalent measurements without spatial filters. This reduces visibility
calibration uncertainties, and hence can reduce the need for frequent
observations of separate astronomical sources for calibration of visibility
measurements. We also show that spatial filters can increase the
signal-to-noise ratios of visibility measurements and that pinhole filters give
signal-to-noise ratios within 17% of values obtained with single-mode fibres
for aperture diameters up to 3r_0. Given the simplicity of the use of pinhole
filters we suggest that it represents a competitive, if not optimal, technique
for spatial filtering in many current and next generation interferometers.
