Barriers To Communication

There are a number of barriers which produce noise and prevent the achievement of the desired result. Some of these are- absence of a common frame of reference, badly encoded messages, disturbance in the transmission channel, poor retention (especially in face to face communication), in attention by the receiver, premature evaluation of the message, different perceptions of reality, semantic difficulties, vagueness about the objectives to be achieved, misinterpretation of the message, clash of attitudinal nuances of the sender and the receiver, psycho- physical factors, and selection of a wrong variety of language.

Most of the barriers mentioned above are self- explanatory; a few however need clarification. The common frame of reference implies the social context in which communication takes place. Both the sender and the receiver would be able to focus their mind meaningfully on the message if the context is well- defined. The semantic difficulties arise when the sender uses ambiguous expressions or highly specialist vocabulary inappropriate to the situation. Every sender superimposes his attitudes on what he communicates.

A message is therefore not just organized language, but a verbal means of realization of an intention. Sometimes the attitude of the sender is at variance with that of the receiver and when this attitudinal clash occurs, communication suffers. Sometimes one is unable to communicate effectively because of mental or physical fatigue or when psychologically one is out of tune with oneself.

We must remember that, contrary to the popular belif, redundancy is not always a barrier to communication. On the other hand, redundancy, the repetition of the elements of a message, may prove to be an aid to communication in certain situations.