Physical barrier is the environmental and natural condition that act as a barrier in

communication in sending message from sender to receiver. Organizational environment or

interior workspace design problems, technological problems and noise are the parts of physical
barriers.

When messages are sent by the sender, physical barriers like doors, walls, distance, etc. do not let
the communication become effective. The barriers are less if the proximity of the sender and the
receiver is high and less technologies are required.

Disturbance in hearing due to thunders, telephone call disconnection, problems in television

reception, message not being sent in chat, etc. are some examples of physical barriers of
communication.

Examples of physical barriers that prevent individuals from effective communication include:

 Environment - Some barriers are due to the existing environment. For example, if you are
standing in adverse weather conditions, your conversation would be hampered because you
would not be able to pay full attention to what the other person is saying.
 Distance - Distance also plays an important part in determining the course of a conversation.
For example, if the staff in an organization are made to sit in different buildings or different
floors, they might have to substitute face to face communication with phone calls or emails.
 Ignorance of Medium - Communication also includes using signs and symbols to convey a
feeling or a thought. However, if there is a lack of ignorance about the medium in which
sender is sending the message, the conversation can be hampered.

Semantic is the study of meaning, signs and symbols used for communication. The word is
derived from “sema”, a Greek word meaning signs. Semantic barriers to communication are the
symbolic obstacles that distorts the sent message in some other way than intended, making the
message difficult to understand.

The meaning of words, signs and symbols might be different from one person to another and the
same word might have hundreds of meanings. So, when a message is sent by a sender to a
receiver, it might be interpreted wrongly in a communication process causing misunderstandings
between them.

This can happen due to different situations that form the semantic (of, relating to, or arising from
the different meanings of words or other symbols) of the sender and the receiver, known as
the semantic barrier. It also arises due to language, education, culture and place of origin (dialect
or accent) or most likely their experiences. It is similar to and related to language barriers in a
communication.

Denotative Barriers
Direct meaning of any word which must be shared by two people to understand each other is the
denotative meaning. The barriers that arise due to the definition or meaning of a word used
differently by sender and receiver is denotative barriers of communication. They disagree on the
meaning of a word as they are unaware of the other persons’ meaning.
For example, the meaning of braces which is used to define the metallic structure to adjust teeth
in American English whereas it means a part of clothing in British English.

Connotative Barriers
The implied meaning of a word is known as Connotative meaning. Connotative barrier in
communication refers to the difference of meaning according to different abstract situations,
contexts, actions and feelings. Both the communicators know both meanings of the word, but use
only one meaning according to the context, which might be being used differently in the context.

For example, the word astonish can be used to describe surprise as well as startle. The words,
when used by someone, can have any of the meaning. The context in which it is used will only let
the receiver know what the sender means. Another example is the word god, which is used
differently by people following different religions.

Physiology is the state of human body and mind. Physiological barriers of communication occur
due to the physical condition of sender or receiver which might even be physical disabilities. It
includes sensory dysfunction and other physical dysfunctions.

Effective communication requires proper functioning of the senses in both the sender and the
receiver. Limitation of human body and mind adds up to the physiological barrier causing
interruption in message from reaching its destination or having meaning.

For example, A person with short term memory loss is unable to convey the message after a while
as he/she forgets the message and hence the communication fails.