BARRIERS IN COMMUNICATION

BARRIERS OF COMMUNICATION-
Barriers are difficulties or hurdles or obstacles that hamper the success of communication process. Barrier can be at sender’s end, within the channel or can be at receiver’s end. What may be the case, these obstacles tends to fail the communication process and prevent the achievement of desired goals. There are many barriers because of which communications may fail.  In many communications, the message may not be received exactly the way the sender intended.
In technical language of communication barriers are also called ‘NOISE’.Barriers can be classified into following categories-
These barriers can be physical, psychological, mechanical, and cultural and language.
Physical Barrier-

a)      Unwanted sounds or noises- any kind of unwanted sound or noise can become a barrier in communication process. For example- when a teacher is teaching in the class, the sound of vehicles passing nearby can distract the students. Thus the lecture or the part of lecture goes in waste.

b)      Absence of right environment- Physical environment plays important role in the success of communication. Right and comfortable environment strengthen the receiver’s capacity.

c)      Physical disabilities such as hearing problems or speech difficulties

d)     Physical illness - if the receiver is physically not well. he will not be able to grasp message fully. Such problems on the part of receiver can also come out as a barrier in communication.

Psychological barrier

·         Receiver’s Psychology plays an important role in the reception and interpretation of the message. Each individual has a different mindset and if the message contradicts his frame of mind.he is likely to reject the message. Every  person has some pre conceived ideas and thoughts. Many a times these ideas are strong enough to reject the contradictory statements.the receiver is not ready to receive anything which he thinks is wrong or unethical.

·         In some cases, the receiver is not ready to change his thoughts and ideas due to the fear of unknown. Many people can not accept change easily as there is a fear of failure of new ideas. This fear also becomes a barrier in communication. 

·         One possible psychological block is bias. People often hear what they expect to hear rather than what is actually said and jump to incorrect conclusions.

·         Another psychological barrier is Selective perception.  Selective perception is the personal filtering of what we see and hear so as to suit our own needs. Much of this process is unconscious. . If the  receiver is emotionally attached to something. He will never accept anything against it. In other words the success and failure of the communication depends upon the emotions of  the receiver. People  take what they want to take and disregard the rest.

·         Lack of attention also becomes a barrier in communication process.

·         Lack of interest in the message on the part of receiver also hampers the effect of communication. If the message does not interest the receiver, he will likely to reject it.

Cultural barriers

The norms of social interaction vary greatly in different cultures, as do the way in which emotions are expressed. For example, the concept of personal space varies between cultures and between different social settings, colour denotes different meaning in different cultures for example white is a colour of mourning in Indian culture whereas western brides wear on their wedding day. Cultural differences between the sender and receiver give birth to cultural barrier.

Language barriers

·         language sometimes refers to as semantic barriers. But semantic barriers strictly related to connotative and denotative meanings of words. If the encoder and decoder do not share the some connotative meaning for a word, miscommunication occurs. For example word cheap is used in two ways. Its one meaning is realted to low cost and another is low standard.

·         Differences and the difficulty in understanding unfamiliar accents sometime the difference between the accent can also miscommunicate a message.

The use of jargon, over-complicated or unfamiliar terms. Many a times people from a different profession or background are not familiar with a particular technical terminology. Thus it can arise a hinderence in the process of communication.

A good communicator must be aware of these barriers and try to reduce their impact by getting continuous feedback.