However, they are actually in a dynamic relationship, as hearing is necessary to collect the information, and listening is necessary to put that information in a context and give it meaning.
It’s a two-way interaction that requires us to connect with our interlocutor, focus on their words, pay mindful attention to what they say, analyze non-verbal communication, and stay aware and present.Īlthough both processes rely on the hearing apparatus and sound detection, the two seem so different. Intellectual dialogues, discussions, and the sharing of emotions require a two-way engagement.Īnd that’s what listening is. People engage in conversation because they want to connect and feel understood, heard. However, if your interlocutor’s voice and words end up as the background music to your thoughts, they might feel neglected and even offended. We are working, and music is playing in the background.Īs you can see, higher processes like consciousness or the construction of meaning are not necessarily involved in the process of hearing. Although we hear the music, we are not necessarily listening to it. Sometimes, during work, we play music to help us concentrate. Hearing is something that is ever-present, regardless of whether we’re focused on those sensations or not.
Hearing is the psychophysiological process of detecting vibrations-––sound waves––through the ear that convert into what we perceive as sound.
#Listening vs hearing wadswoeth how to
In this article, we’ll bring the similarities and the differences between these two activities closer to you, and try to explain in a comprehensive manner how to become a better listener. This will make people around you feel important, understood, and valued, and it will also help you gain a better understanding of the world and the people around you. If you want to master the skill of mindful listening and build strong, deep relationships, you should learn the difference between hearing and listening. If this happens often, then the other person feels your distance, lack of interest, and withdrawal from the conversation, which may lead to miscommunication and relationship problems. We are passively perceiving the sound of their words as a background noise, while our mind is busy focusing on something else. We can hear the other person, but we are not truly listening to them.
When the mind starts to wander, our ears continue to work.
There are so many things that occupy our mental space when we should pay close attention and be fully immersed in a conversation. For example, sometimes we begin to drift off during a conversation, become overwhelmed, or think about how we want to respond. Hearing is something we can do passively, as it is an involuntary, natural process. Listening to someone requires you to be an active and mindful participant in the communication who is present and puts in some additional effort to make a conversation valuable and meaningful. In everyday communication, we usually use the terms “hearing” and “listening” interchangeably, but how many times have you heard someone say: “Do you even listen to what I’m saying” or “You’re hearing, but you aren’t listening to me”? While there are some similarities between the two terms, there are also some very important differences.
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