One would simply begin quantifying it.
In contrast to some other catchphrases and common wisdom in business which is based on sound study and statistical inference, this one seems just to have entered the lexicon via case study & anecdote. I don't know that no such study has ever been conducted by any MBA or economics student anywhere, just that I encounter the claim, stated as fact, and rarely (never, that I can recall) any data to support it. It's also so convenient-looking as a cop-out that I am suspicious of it in general.
I hypothesize that the tendency of some people to "know" things for which we have no proof whatsoever is responsible for 90% or more of all "miscommunication". 10% or less I would attribute to things like specialized technical and/or professional vocabularies that don't have sufficient overlap.
From all your posts here, you seem to be a courteous and responsible person. So I don't question your integrity when I say that I think you're haven't seen what you think you've seen.
I have certainly seen it- highly specialized groups that have difficulty finding common language and the challenge that scenario brings to a project- but I can't think of how I would quantify the problem to establish a statistical universe.
My guess is that you're extending the benefit of the doubt indiscriminately, including to some people who just don't try to communicate. Mine is also just a hazardous guess, but I believe so-called "failure to communicate" is no more and accurate account of the facts in business than it was in Cool Hand Luke.
