COM 200
Noise Interference with Interpersonal Communication
COM200: Interpersonal Communication
This week I am evaluating the video A Failure to Communicate. The video is of a
deaf woman and a woman in a veil having a conversation at a train station. Throughout the
video, I observed miscommunications and noise interferences. In an attempt to monitor,
evaluate, and problem solve the miscommunication examples I will use my newfound
knowledge from Jennifer L. Bevan’s book Making connections: Understanding
interpersonal communication to identify, support, and conclude the miscommunications
between these two women at the train station.
The first example of miscommunication also represents an example of when the
woman in the veil is impatient, short, and lacking knowledge of her receiver's physiological
noise. Physiological noise is “having an impairment that influences communication
interpretations'' (Bevin, 2020, pg. 1.2). Otherwise known as communication disabilities such
as, hearing loss as represented in the video when she starts to try to gain the women's
attention, unknowing she is speaking to a deaf receiver. She corresponds to the women's lack
of response with a snippy tone, aggressive body language and unnecessary reactions as she
pulls the womens hair to obtain her attention. Accuracy is key, in communication it ensures
the receiver understands the message and the meaning is the same for each. These two
women did not draw the same meaning from each other, one was impatient and forceful and
that caused the other to naturally be confused as to
why her hair is being pulled at all. Rather than apologize, seek clarification, or actively listen
and accept the consequences of misunderstanding (Bevin, 2020, pg.1.4), or taking
responsibility for the unnecessary non-verbal form of communication used to get her
