Broadcaster
Speaker, body state, conscious intent, subconscious intent, emotional load.
Signal model
The Broadcast-Receiver Model
A simple telecom translation of human communication: one person broadcasts, another receives, and distortion enters before meaning becomes conscious.
Translation layer
The communication stack.
Most people think communication means transferring words. It actually means attempting to transfer meaning through unstable channels between imperfectly regulated nervous systems.
Signal packets
Words, labels, sentence structure, direct statements, omissions, silence.
Carrier wave
Tone, timing, volume, pace, facial expression, posture, warmth, coldness.
Channel
Trust, relationship history, power imbalance, current stress, digital or in-person context.
Interference
Trauma, shame, fear, bias, projection, fatigue, identity threat, family scripts.
Receiver
Nervous system, memory, attachment pattern, self-worth, culture, regulation capacity.
Decoded meaning
The emotional reality the listener experiences after interpretation.
Return broadcast
The reaction that becomes the next signal: clarify, attack, defend, withdraw, repair, or connect.
Three failure points
Distortion can enter anywhere.
Corrupted broadcast
The sender uses words to hide punishment, control, contempt, insecurity, avoidance, or manipulation.
Corrupted channel
Trust is already damaged, so even neutral messages pass through relational static.
Corrupted receiver
The listener decodes old pain into the present signal and mistakes the output for objective reality.
Broken telephone across time
A new sentence can activate an old file.
A child hears, "You are too much." The body installs, "My needs are unsafe." Twenty years later, someone says, "Can you lower your voice?" The adult hears the wound, not only the sentence.
That is trauma decoding. The present signal gets routed through old emotional memory.
Clean communication protocol
Verify the signal before rebroadcasting.
Pause
Do not immediately rebroadcast from threat.
Separate signal from story
Ask what was actually said.
Name the decoded feeling
Ask what your system made it mean.
Check the sender's intent
Ask whether that was sent or decoded.
Clarify the carrier wave
Name tone, timing, or delivery without attacking.
Repair the signal
Try again with cleaner words, tone, and timing.