Jonathan Dodd returns. Guest opinion articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication. Ed
After several conversations with a variety of people recently, I’ve found myself wondering about the fantastic complexity of human communication. I’m trying to make a route map that describes the territory. This is where I’ve got to so far.
OK. We start with some electrical activity somewhere within the brain of Speaker A. This is described as, and relates to, a thought.
The thought is electrical and involves brain cells and synapses and various other events about which I have no real idea. Neuroscientists are working on this.
Hearing Voices
Somehow, in a different part of the brain, this thought gets translated into language. In our case, English. The thoughts, which aren’t made of words, are converted into words. This process depends very much upon the clarity of the thought, the skill in language of the thinker, and the ability to match the thought itself to language in a way that expresses it as clearly as possible.
These words are also electrical at this point. Another part of the brain (the brain is cleverer than anything else ever grown or manufactured, ever, anywhere, as far as we can tell) is able to turn these words into imagined speech that can be ‘heard’, even though we haven’t even escaped the brain yet.
Sounds painful
So then another part of the brain is able to make decisions; to improve or amend the words of the thought; to add values such as how to deliver it, how fast and how loud, who to, etc. The eyes and other senses are also used to check external conditions, as in how much noise there is, the distance between Speaker A and Hearer B, and innumerable other factors, such as the intelligence or attitude or deafness of the recipient.
Once these items have been computed, electrical messages are sent to the diaphragm, to prepare itself for deep breaths and then a series of spasms that force air from the lungs through the larynx, while simultaneously the vocal chords are stimulated by electrical impulses to vibrate and produce a series of waves of air that are directed out of the body via the mouth, which is moved and shaped to complete the effect.
Buffets of air
The thought has now left Speaker A. In the form of buffets of air. These travel through the surrounding air in the direction of Hearer B’s ears.
Hearer B has a thin membrane of skin in each ear called the eardrum. The buffets of air have to scramble over any earwax or other foreign bodies, hit it and make it vibrate. Three small interlocking bones are then jiggled by these vibrations, and they in turn push and pull another skin membrane. Inside the inner ear there are channels filled with liquid, whose inner surface is covered with tiny hair-like cilia, which wave when the liquid is disturbed. The movement of the cilia causes electrical messages to be sent via nerve cells to the recipient’s brain.
Darkness, drunkenness and blindness
These electrical impulses are somehow converted into things that are recognised by the recipient. As in: this is speech; these are words; they come from Speaker A. At the same time the visual clues (unless darkness, drunkenness or blindness are involved) will have already added a lot of information that’ll be attached to the audio message.
As this is assembled, other factors will be added. Do the words make sense? To Hearer B, that is. This is unrelated to whether Speaker A was talking sense or just thought he/she was. Were they heard clearly, or was a lot of interpretation and guesswork necessary? What sort of mood were they delivered in? How urgent was it?
Huh?
Once all this is assembled, it’s sent to another part of Hearer B’s brain to process and respond. This could turn out to be proof of how well the process works.
On the other hand, he/she might have a different conception of the meaning of the words, or not be paying attention, or be in a bad mood, or might not like the speaker, or might not understand, or might simply try too hard and add in meanings that weren’t there in the first place. He/she might just be thinking about something quite different at the same time.
There are so many places in this process where the initial thought could be scrambled or lost, that it seems to be a miracle to me that anyone ever manages to communicate at all.
When it works, I think we should be amazed. And grateful.
If you have been, thank you for reading this.
Image: sjdunphy under CC BY 2.0
Image: Adriano Agulo under CC BY 2.0
Image: Walt Dabney under CC BY 2.0
Image: the italian voice under CC BY 2.0
