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Difference between hearing and listening PDF

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Updated:

May 12, 2020

Original:

Feb 2, 2013

The Difference Between Hearing and Listening

Author:

livingsta

Livingsta is a writer who focuses on anything that fascinates, provokes or interests her. She always puts forth her best efforts and focus.

Listening

gifted.uconn.edu

Communication is a two-way process. Many people neither listen to nor understand what another person says or feels because they do not know the difference between hearing and listening. When someone is speaking to them, they say, I hear what you are saying rather than, I am listening to what you are saying. In reality, there is a huge difference between hearing and listening.

Communication is a two way process. Many people do not listen and do not understand what the other person says or feels because they do not know the difference between hearing and listening.

Note: this article can be used as a reference for people who are working towards any qualifications in customer service, especially the NVQ Level 2 or Level 3 Diploma or Certificate in Customer Services. The article can be used as a reference for Unit A3, "Communicate Effectively With Customers."

Hearing Vs Listening: A Summary

HearingListening

1. A physical ability and not a conscious act [Physiological]	A skill and conscious act [Psychological]
2. Is hearing randomly	Is listening intentionally and analysing
3. Everyone who is physically able to hears	Not everyone listens
4. Perceiving sound by the ear	Making an effort to understand using reception, analysis, and interpretation.
5. Involuntary	Voluntary
6. You just hear sound and noise but do not understand much	You understand what is being said or heard.
7. Does not need focus	Needs focus and care
8. Hearing uses only one of the five senses.	Listening uses hearing, seeing and sometimes the sense of touch.
9. Receiving sound vibrations	Observing behaviour and adding meaning to what the speaker says
10. Passive	Active

What is Hearing?

Hearing is an action in which a sound is perceived by the ear. Very little or no effort is required as your mind may be occupied with other thoughts or perhaps you are engaged in a different task while the other person is sharing his or her thoughts with you. This is a passive process.

Hearing in Daily Life

We hear something around us all the time.

While you are at home, you might hear the sound of other people talking, the sound of cooking in the kitchen, the sound of the television, and the sound of anything that is happening around. While you are at work, depending on where you work, you hear the sound of various things around you. While on the road you hear the sound of traffic and any events in the public, the people laughing, talking, shouting etc.

At the end of the day, after you go to bed and fall asleep, you hear sounds even while you sleep. All these happen around you, and you do not necessarily notice it. It is just sound waves reaching your ears. Hearing is an alarm system which operates even outside your immediate awareness.

This also applies to music. Nowadays music is played everywhere: in shopping malls, in restaurants, in supermarkets, in offices. Not all of us listen to that music and acquire anything from it. In a way, this devalues music. Most people use music to just fill the silence while they are doing other tasks.

Listening Process

courses.ttu.edu

What is Listening?

Listening is an action in which you choose to actively concentrate on what you hear. You need to put in a lot more effort in terms of attention, processing, thinking, and analysing. You do not think about anything else, or get engaged in any other tasks, but instead sit down and listen to what the speaker is saying. You notice the feeling and meaning of what is being said. This is an active process.

How to Listen

When you listen, you need to pay attention in order to interpret and respond. Listening is a skill that can be improved with a little bit of hard work, dedication and determination. In every relationship, we come across this complaining phrase: You never listen or You do not want to listen. Do you want that to be said about you?

Multitasking is a big culprit when it comes to people's inability to listen. For example, I'll often encounter people reading something on the Internet while someone is talking to them. I also encounter people trying to listen to someone while typing something on their computers or staring at their phones. These are common scenarios that occur in offices and personal lives almost every day. These behaviours clearly indicate a lack of respect on the part of the listener.This tells the speaker that they are less important than the work that the listener is doing, putting the speaker in an awful situation.

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.
Ernest Hemingway

ocw.tufts.edu

How to Be an Active Listener

Focus on the speaker and not yourself. Keep your eyes and ears focused on the speaker without making them feel uncomfortable.
If speaking on the phone, concentrate by focusing at a particular spot and do not look around.
Provide feedback on what the speaker has said.
Use paraphrasing [repeating what the other person has said, but not verbatim] skills to understand the speakers needs.
When there are people who talk a lot, they can politely be informed about the limited time, and be requested to talk about their important concerns [This applies when you have limited appointment times].
Listen patiently to all concerns without interrupting and in the end do not forget to ask a customer if they have any questions for you.
Be patient when you wait for responses by maintaining silence.
Always keep an eye on the speakers body language and the tone of their voice, because these two behaviours speak a lot.
Write down important information in the form of keywords on a piece of paper.
Keep your emotions away from the situation.
Do not jump to conclusions before completely listening.
Ask the speaker to repeat if you have not understood something.

Listening Well

Why Do People Find it Hard to Listen?

Very few people have refined the ability to hear into the art of listening. People fail to listen for many reasons, including:

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Only hearing what they expect or want to hear
Not being open to new ideas
Lacking understanding of another's situation
Lack of empathy about how the other person feels
Lacking patience to sit down and listen
Self-centeredness and egoism
Tending to be defensive
Spending a conversation planning what to say next instead of listening
Rushing through everything and not wanting to sit down for a few minutes to listen to others
Feeling awkward or uncomfortable with something the speaker said

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.
Stephen R. Covey

mindful.org

Why is Listening More Important than Hearing?

If you need to understand the importance of listening, just think for a moment. When we speak to someone, what do we expect them to do? How do we expect them to react? Treat others the same way you wish to be treated. Give your best.

How do I Listen Better?
Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Stephen R. Covey

Listening is important because it helps you socialise and get along in a professional environment. You know what is expected of you, and you are able to resolve issues by arriving at good decisions. Listening shows people that you are interacting with them and that you appreciate and give importance to their thoughts and feelings. It helps you cooperate with other people and make decisions easily without any errors. It also shows that you are polite. Listeners understand better and are more productive. People, in general, avoid bad listeners.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
Leo Buscaglia

soc.northwestern.edu

Benefits of listening:

You are appreciated if you listen with full concentration
Accomplish better results quicker
Helps to build a better relationship, be it professional or personal
You gain more customers or clients as you are genuinely interested to serve them
Improves the quality of the company / organisation
You make a difference in peoples life and mind
You get to know customers / clients better and understand their needs
It helps you get into the very heart of their problems / issues
It helps to provide better service and produce better results
Customer / client expectations are met
Shows that we respect acknowledge and care for them
It delights customers / clients and shows that we are empathetic
You learn new information
You can deal with people easily
Everyone likes people who listen
Helps you develop leadership and management skills
Helps one to be successful in life / career by performing up to their expectations
Avoids misunderstandings and conflicts

cleverclassroom.com.au

Effective Listening Skills

The only similarity between hearing and listening is that you do both with the aid of ears.

Listening is very important when it comes to customer service and other professions where you have to listen to people at all times. For example, doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, counselors, journalists, interviewers, teachers, tutors, advisers etc. Almost all professions require listening skills at some point or the other. In an office and home environment, we are around people who want to be listened. It is always good to improve your listening skills and be a better listener and a better human.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the authors knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Comments

Owen on March 27, 2017:

Do you have any credentials which would make you a reliable source on this information? I am using it in a research paper and need to make sure its reliable. Thanks

Aindriya Marketing Solutions Pvt Ltd from kochi on November 02, 2016:

Really wonderful.I learned a lot.

edupedia publications on October 05, 2016:

Thank you Ivan. Listening is an art. We need to learn.

aymen soudani on October 03, 2016:

Great information , really you have great Difference Between Hearing and Listening

Great hub . Thank you

Graham Gifford from New Hamphire on September 19, 2016:

This topic never gets old, truly. I think that you did an excellent job of cover the many angles of this very important distinction. Hemmingway's quote has always been one of my favorites. Most people do not listen. They merely wait until it is their "time" to speak. We would learn so much more from people if we were active listeners. Thank you.

livingsta [author] from United Kingdom on August 24, 2016:

Dear Student, I am pleased that you found this information helpful. Yes, you can cite the table and the source should be the link of the article page. I am not sure of what information you have been requested to add to the References section. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

livingsta [author] from United Kingdom on August 24, 2016:

Hello CYong, I can't agree less with your view. This is so true and I come across this very often in my personal and work life and it is sad. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts on this.

Student on July 28, 2016:

Dear author, the article is very useful and the table with contrasts between hearing and listening is excellent! Could you, please, tell me if there is a possibility to cite the table in a thesis and what would the source be? Thank you very much!

Jocelyn Guo on July 18, 2016:

sometimes we need listening the customers what is need ,especial in custom industry, we need the more information from the customer and their request ,then could produce the nice jewelry shop showcase for customer.

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Ced Yong from Asia on July 15, 2016:

Fantastic hub. This is one area that way, way too many customer service people insist on ignoring.

mohammed karjat on May 26, 2016:

Sometimes it happens that there a more than one person talking and you are hearing the voices of them all. However, if you like someones talk, you listen to him carefully from them all and give all your attention to him.

livingsta [author] from United Kingdom on March 22, 2016:

Hello letstalkabouteduc, how sad, but true. We have to pay to listen these days. Only if people understood the importance of listening! Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts and experience. Have a great week ahead :-]

livingsta [author] from United Kingdom on March 22, 2016:

Hello Aesta1,

Thank you for stopping by. I am glad that you found this useful. Have a lovely week ahead :-]

livingsta [author] from United Kingdom on March 22, 2016:

Hello Samuel Smart, so true right? If only people listened, this world would be a better place in many ways. Thank you for stopping by and voicing your thoughts. Have a great week ahead! :-]

livingsta [author] from United Kingdom on March 22, 2016:

Hello Dhimanreena, how true. I agree to what you say. I am glad that you found this hub interesting :-]

livingsta [author] from United Kingdom on March 22, 2016:

Hello Loyal99,

Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts and approach. I am glad that you liked it. Have a great week :-]

livingsta [author] from United Kingdom on March 22, 2016:

Hello Surveyequipment, so true. I completely agree with you. There aren't many people nowadays who really listen and it is sad. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. Have a great week :-]