Noise: Interior, Semantic and Situational
Intrapersonal noise can include anything that interferes with our attention (or sensing, as defined in the process of listening defined above) or gets in the way of understanding a speaker’s message. Without attention, or focused reception, as we learned above, listening is not very effective. So a listener whose mind is wondering or who fails to concentrate on the speaker only makes listening less effective. One of the main points of this early book on listening, Listening is a 10 part skill, by Ralph Nichols (www.listen.org) was that we should concentrate on the ideas and thoughts of the speaker and not get distracted by our own monologues or interior noise. If we are daydreaming while someone is speaking we will miss parts of what is being said. But, also imagine if you were speaking and you empathically realized that many in your audience were self absorbed or daydreaming or otherwise not paying attention to you, how would that make you feel as a speaker? How would that change your presentation? A speaker who is paying attention, listening to the audience, will attempt to recapture the audience’s attention with a shift in tone or content—maybe a change of pace and/or a story to engage the audience with a situation to which they can relate.
Semantic noise is the reaction we have to certain words, labels (or stereotypes) a speaker might use. These are sometimes called trigger words that distract us from hearing the factual message of the speaker. Semantic refers to the meaning component of a word, as opposed to its connotation or the emotional reaction the word may arouse in a listener. Political correctness seems to be a perennial example; we pay attention to, and sometimes get distracted by, racial, gender, class or political words that are highly charged. “Conservative,” “liberal,” “gay,” “pro–life/choice,” or other emotionally loaded words get the attention and not the ideas being communicated. Political comedians, of course, play with these labels; their intent is humor. To a lesser degree the humor draws attention to the message behind the words, the real meaning. Stereotypes are another type of label that are quick and simplistic ways of referring to an individual or group—stereotypes are always generalizations and do not usually serve anyone well—that may be either positive or negative in connotation. It is the negative stereotype we usually pay attention to, but a good listener tries to see past and listen for more than simplistic generalizations. We might hear words like “Latina/o” or “Hispanic.” When we hear stereotypes like this we should listen and think of the many aspects of the diverse cultural groups referenced. The Spanish or Latin culture is made up of many peoples, from diverse localities, in many countries, with different linguistic variations, life styles, foods, dress, heritages, etc. All of these rich details are lost when we take a stereotype at face value, that is, for its simple connotative value.
Situational noise is distraction that arises from the physical speaking location (see above for specific tactics for staying engaged). It is the speaker’s responsibility to do all he/she can to control and eliminate any distractions in the speaking situation—noise from a window, or an adjoining room. Given that the speaker has done what can be done, the listener must work with the speaker to stay focused on the speech—responsibility for the success of a communication situation is the responsibility of all parties to the event. If the speaker is not loud enough, or the sound system turned up enough, or the microphone close enough to the speaker to pick up the voice, the listener can make this known to the speaker. The listener should take responsibility, to the degree it is practical, to insure the ability to hear and listen effectively. If one listener is not able to hear well, others are probably in the same boat.
