Non-verbal communication

Other types of communication

Other more specific types of communication are for example:

• 
  Facilitated communication
  
• 
  Graphic communication
  
• 
  Nonviolent Communication
  
• 
  Science communication
  
• 
  Strategic Communication
  
• 
  Superluminal communication
  
• 
  Technical communication
  

Problems in Communication

Two technical terms used to describe problems or breakdowns, which occur in communication, are:

1. 
   Distortion;
   
2. 
   Noise
   

Distortion

Distortion refers to the way in which the meaning of a communication is lost in ‘handling’ i.e during the encoding and decoding stages of communication.

Noise

Noise refers to distractions and interference in the environment in which communication takes place, obstructing the process of communication by affecting the accuracy, clarity or even the arrival of the message.

1. 
   Physical noise, eg. other people talking, passing traffic.
   
2. 
   Technical noise, eg. bad handwriting, crackle on a telephone line.
   
3. 
   Social noise, eg. interference created by differences in personality/culture or outlook of the sender and recipient.
   
4. 
   Psychological noise, eg. excessive emotion (anger, fear), prejudice or nervousness can also interfere with effective transmission of a message.
   

The problem of noise can be reduced by redundancy: using more than one channel of communication so that if a message fails to get through one channel, it may succeed by another.