Specific black-hole accretion rate λ_sBHAR as a function of hydrogen column density, log(N_H), for obscured and unobscured AGNs. Low (high) excitation obscured and unobscured AGNs are plotted with solid (Xs) red and blue circles. The dashed black line indicates the minimum detectable λ_sBHAR as a function of log(N_H) for a fixed stellar mass of log(M_*/M_⊙)=10.5 and a mean redshift of z = 0.75. This detection limit accounts for the hard-band (2–10 keV) flux threshold and includes attenuation due to obscuration; this was estimated using an empirical transmission model. Sources lying below this line are likely to fall below the detection limit of the X-ray survey. In the right panel, we plot the corresponding distribution of λ_sBHAR for the different AGN samples. Solid red and blue distributions represent obscured and unobscured AGNs, while red dashed line and blue dotted line histograms correspond to high-excitation obscured and unobscured AGNs, respectively.