I have heard salah is a meeting, a mi’raj, a conversation with Allah. But mine feels like a one way monologue into silence. How do I feel that I am truly being heard?

The ache you are describing is not a sign that something has gone wrong with you. It is the ache of someone who expects an answer. And the answer is there. Your salah was never a monologue; you simply have not been shown yet where Allah’s side of it sits.

He has told us plainly how near He is:

“And when My servants ask you concerning Me, then indeed I am near. I answer the call of the caller when he calls upon Me.”

Qur’an, Al-Baqarah 2:186 · meaning

He does not say He is near to the learned and the great. He says He is near to whoever turns to Him. And in the Fatiha, which you recite in every rak’ah, that nearness takes the form of an actual exchange. The Prophet, peace be upon him, reported that Allah said:

“I have divided the prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves, and My servant shall have what he asks for.”

Hadith Qudsi (Allah’s words), Sahih Muslim (395a) · meaning

So when you say the opening of the Book,

“All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.”

Qur’an, Al-Fatiha 1:2 · meaning

in that instant, before you have moved to the next line, Allah answers: My servant has praised Me. When you say the Most Merciful, He says: My servant has extolled Me. When you reach “You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help,” He replies: This is between Me and My servant, and My servant shall have what he asked. The stillness you took for emptiness is the space where His half of the prayer sits. We hear what we have trained ourselves to listen for. Learn these replies by heart, and the standing that felt like a wall becomes what it always was, a doorway, and the prayer becomes what it always was, two sides speaking.

One small step: In your next salah, pause for one breath after each line of the Fatiha and quietly recall Allah’s reply to it, so you recite as one who is being answered, not one who is alone.