Context :

Aims : We studied the turbulence spectrum of the local interstellar plasma in the direction of PSR J0437 $ - $ 4715 , on the basis of our observations and those reported earlier by others .

Methods : We combine these data to form a structure function for the variations of phase along the line of sight to the pulsar .
For observations that did not report them , we infer modulation indices from a theoretical model .

Results : We find that all of the observations fit a power-law spectrum of turbulence with index n = 3.46 \pm 0.20 .
We suggest that differences among reported values for scintillation bandwidth and timescale for this pulsar arise from differences in observing parameters .
We suggest that refractive effects dominate for this line of sight , with refraction angle about twice the diffraction angle at 330 MHz observing frequency .

Conclusions : We suggest that the scattering of this pulsar lies in a layer of enhanced turbulence , about 10 pc from the Sun .
We propose that the flux variations of the extragalactic source PKS 0405 - 385 arise in the same scattering layer .