Noise is anything that interferes with the delivery of a message (Dominick 9). In the Communications field, a little noise might pass unnoticed, while too much noise might prevent the message from reaching its destination. There are at least three different types of noise: semantic, mechanical, and environmental (Dominick 9). .
Semantic noise may occur when people from various places have different meanings for different words and phrases. For example, if you ask a New Yorker for a "soda" and expect to get something with ice cream in it, the New Yorker will probably give you a bottle of what is called "pop" in the Midwest (Dominick 9). People from diverse cultures may interpret some words differently thus causing semantic noise. Many advertising companies use semantic noise to twist or distort the meaning of words or phrases as well (Neufeldt).
Mechanical noise is completely different from that of semantic noise. Noise occurs when there is a problem with a machine that is being used to assist communication. For example, a television set with a broken volume button, a pen running out of ink, a static-filled radio, and a computer with a broken keyboard. In addition, problems that are caused by people programming messages to machines can also be thought of as a type of mechanical noise (Dominick 9). An example of this would be a printing error in the Yellow Pages. .
Environmental noise refers to sources of noise that are outside of the communication process but even so interfere with it (Dominick 10). Some environmental noise might be out of the communicator's control. An example of this would be a noisy restaurant where the communicator is trying to hold a conversation. The source or the receiver might initiate some environmental noise; for example, you might try to talk to somebody who keeps popping his or her gum. .