Practical No.

11

Barriers
- Barrier means an obstruction in communication process. OR
- Any problem or difficulty due to which communication fails is called as barrier.
- It is a difficulty that comes in the way of communication.
- It prevents the smooth flow of communication.
- Barriers result in poor communication, error in judgments & misunderstandings.
- There are a number of barriers to communication. They are as follows:

1. Physical barrier
A physical barrier means obstruction in communication due to physical conditions
such as:
(A) Environmental
Surrounding: Physical conditions like poor ventilation, humidity, over-crowded
room, external interference, darkness etc create problems in communication.
Noise: noise is quite often a barrier to communication. Oral communication becomes
difficult due to loud noise of machines in factories. In a classroom situation, if people
are talking loudly outside the lecture hall or the sound of horns of vehicles create
noise so students can‟t listen to the teacher properly and the smooth flow of
communication is obstructed.
Time: Suppose that its your friend‟s birthday today who lives in London. If you want
to be the first one to wish him, you would call him at 12 midnight but it would be 6.30
pm at his place.
Distance: Sometimes the audience sitting in the last row isn‟t able to hear the
speaker due to the distance between them.
e.g. I was attending a lecture but as there was a loud noise outside, I couldn‟t
concentrate on teaching and I missed important part of the syllabus.
(B) Biological or Physiological
If sender or receiver is not feeling well (ill health).
Or any difficulty or inability to speak, to hear, to see, to read or to write create barrier
in communication.
To overcome:
- Sender should make necessary modifications in his message or channel to
overcome the physical barrier.
- Eg. In case of noisy situation we can use more written communication and if there
is no proper light we should communicate orally.
- If the distance between sender and receiver is more we can use mike &
loudspeaker.
- Some necessary adjustments should be made in surrounding.
- If sender or receiver is ill they should communicate afterwards.

2. Mechanical Barrier
Mechanical barrier is caused due to the defects in the device (instrument) used for
communication.
It is also called as External Barrier because it is caused due to external things
which are not in control of either sender or receiver.
Some mechanical barriers are:
faulty instrument,
failure of instrument,
absence of mechanical device,
cross connection
distorted line etc.
e.g. During a speech the mike stopped working and so the audience couldn‟t hear
what the speaker said.

3. Psychological barrier
Psychological barrier means obstruction in communication process due to various
psychological conditions such as stress, worry, fear, pressure, anger, mental
derangement, closed mind, self-image etc.
It is related to state of mind.

Closed / Blocked mind means some people are not ready to reconsider their
opinions. They are never ready to change.
Personal attitudes, opinions also affect communication.
If we agree with something or like something, we respond favourably.
But if we disagree with something or don‟t like it we don‟t respond favourably.
Prejudice is pre-conceived notion.
If sender or receiver‟s mind is pre-occupied about other person or event, it also
creates barrier.
If sender or receiver thinks negative about the other person then effective
communication can never take place.
Emotional state of mind often acts as a barrier to communication.
It is commonly observed that when people are angry they can only communicate in
violent gestures.
In the same way, the emotions of the receiver also affect the communication
process. If he is angry, worried, under stress he will not take the message properly.
Also if the sender or receiver is worried, afraid, nervous etc. he will not be able to
communicate properly.
Inattentiveness: People often become inattentive while receiving a message. They
think of something else and lose the concentration in the speech. This barrier is very
common in class room situation.
Status also acts as a barrier. The junior employees can‟t communicate with their
seniors out of fear and the seniors consider it below their dignity to communicate
with the juniors.
e.g. I was attending a lecture. Suddenly I remembered that I forgot to lock my room. I
started to worry. As a result, my attention was disturbed from teaching and I forgot
whatever was taught.
To overcome:
- Sender and receiver both should be open minded.
- It is also very important to keep our personal attitudes and opinions aside while
communicating.
- We should not allow our emotions to affect the smooth flow of communication.
- We should not be prejudiced.
- We should not think of something else while communicating.
- Sender and receiver should not let their status come in their communication.

4. Language Barrier
(i) Different Languages: Language barrier is the obstruction in communication
process due to different languages. If the sender and receiver do not know each
other‟s‟ language they won‟t be able to communicate.
(ii) Allusions: Allusions are the things having cultural references.
e.g. The owl is considered to be a wise bird in English culture but a very foolish bird
in Hindi. When Mr. Matthews referred to Mr. Bajaj as an “owl”,
Mr. Bajaj got angry. Mr. Matthews was surprised to note that Mr. Bajaj took it as an
insult and not as a complement.
Sometimes pet or nick names also create misunderstanding if receiver doesn‟t know
it. China is called „dragon‟, Jitendra is called „jumping Jack‟ etc.
(iii) Technical Jargons: These are the words used in particular profession; other
people will not be able to understand their meanings.
(iv) Pronunciation: Pronunciation varies from person to person, region to region.
Also there are some words with almost same pronunciations (homophones) like
principal and principle. This causes problem to receiver.
Eg. If two persons speak two different languages and don‟t understand each other‟s
language they will not be able to communicate properly.

To overcome:
- If both of them don‟t know each other‟s languages, they should use more of
gestures to facilitate communication.
- Allusions and pet names should be avoided.
- Technical jargons should be avoided.
- We should pronounce words in such a way that others can understand them easily.

5. Semantic Barrier
Semantic barrier is the obstruction in communication process due to language
related problems such as:
Wrong words, wrong sentences, complicated expressions, difficult phrases etc.
- Semantic refers to meaning of words or sentences.
- Words are capable of communicating a variety of meanings.
- It is quite possible that the receiver of a message does not assign the same
meaning to a word as the sender has intended.
- This may lead to miscommunication.
- In an abridged dictionary, the little word „run‟ has 71 meanings as a verb, another
35 as a noun, and 4 more as an adjective.
- If this word occurs in a message, the receiver is at liberty to interpret it in any of the
110 senses.
- Even a coma can change the meaning of the sentence.
Eg. A speaker wants to say, “Woman- without her, man is incomplete.” But if he
shifts the coma and decodes as:
“Woman- without her man, is incomplete”.
The meaning of the sentence is reversed.
Sometimes phrases, idioms and slang distort communication.
Eg. “Gandhiji kicked bucket.”
The receiver should know that the phrase “to kick bucket” means to die.
An office manager handed to a new assistant one letter with the instruction,
“Take it to our stockroom and burn it.” In officer‟s mind and in the firm‟s jargon the
word „burn‟ meant to make a copy. As the letter was very important, she wanted an
extra copy. However the puzzled new employee, afraid to ask a question, burned the
letter with a lighted match and thus destroyed the only existing copy.

To overcome:
- Use the most specific and accurate words possible.
- Always try to use words your audience will understand.
- Increase the accuracy of your messages.
- We should be careful with our punctuation.