In communications and especially in telecommunications, an interference is anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message as it travels along a channel between a source and a receiver. The term communications is used in a number of disciplines: Communications, also known as communication studies is the academic discipline which studies communication. ... Telecommunication is the extension of communication over a distance. ... Message in its most general meaning is the object of communication. ... Channel, in communications (sometimes called communications channel), refers to the medium through which information is transmitted from a sender (or transmitter) to a receiver. ... A source is one of the components of communication and information processing. ... The word receiver has a number of different meanings: In communications and information processing, a receiver is the recipient (observer) of a message (information), which is sent from a source (object). ...