What is the difference between listening and hearing

Difference Between Listening and Hearing

April 22, 2011 Posted by koshal

Listening vs Hearing

Since hearing and listening seem to be very closely related, it is important to understand the difference between listening and hearing. Listening and hearing are both kinds of sense that are processed by the brain through the ear. It is the most effective communication between each other, hearing is already a capability we are born with, except if you are deaf or mute or when you are a hearing-impaired individual. Hearing comes from the word hear while listening is created from the word listen. The main difference between listening and hearing can be put in this way. Hearing does not need our intention, but to listen we need to have an intention of hearing the sounds.

What does Listening mean?

Listening is the processing of sounds to understand the meaning behind it. Listening requires your brain to work out every bit of sounds to form words or sentences that you can understand. Most memories are inculcated into our brain due to the reason that we listen carefully to every sound, words, and music that we hear. In order to understand what the other person is talking about, we must listen to him or her. As mentioned earlier, listening comes from the verb listen. Now, this verb listen has its origin in the Old English word hlysnan. Also, listen in is one phrasal verb of the verb listen.

What does Hearing mean?

Hearing is an inborn trait of any individual. When we are born, it will take about a month’s time before we can hear an assortment of sounds. However, hearing is just receiving the sounds from the ear, most often we do not process the sounds. We simply sense that our environment is noisy, but we do not know the cause behind the noise, which is hearing.

In the field of Law, hearing means ” an act of listening to evidence in a court of law or before an official, especially a trial before a judge without a jury.”

What is the difference between Listening and Hearing?

Listening and hearing may be both sensed through our ears but beyond that listening is very different to hearing. Hearing is just the perception that there are several sounds going through your ear while listening is parsing every part of the sound and understanding what it is meant. Therefore, listening begets understanding while hearing does not. Aside from this, listening requires attentiveness and concentration which requires your brain to work. On the other hand, hearing is more like of a sense. So when somebody gives you an oral instruction, it is always a wise decision to listen and not only hear.

If you want to understand and learn knowledge always use your ears to listen and not just to hear words.

Summary:

Hearing vs Listening

• Hearing is a sense or perception of sounds through the ear while listening is deciphering the meaning behind the sounds.

• The key to learning and understanding is through listening.

Hearing vs. Listening: Learn the Difference and How Each Impact Mental Health

And, learn some tips to improve your listening skills

Sanjana is a health writer and editor. Her work spans various health-related topics, including mental health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness.

Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Aaron Johnson is a fact checker and expert on qualitative research design and methodology.

Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images

When you’re in conversation with someone, it’s common for your mind to drift to other thoughts. For example, maybe you have a lot on your plate, and you’re thinking of what all you need to get done. Maybe you just argued with your partner, and you’re still upset about it. Or, maybe you’re exhausted, and you start fantasizing about how cozy your bed will be when you turn in for the night.

When your mind begins to wander, you’re likely still hearing the other person, but you’re not truly listening to what they have to say. However, this can negatively impact your conversations and relationships with people, if they feel that you’re rarely listening to them.

With inputs from a psychologist, this article breaks down the differences between hearing and listening and describes how they impact mental health. It also provides some tips to help you become a better listener and improve your relationships.

Hearing vs. Listening

“Many people use the words “hearing” and “listening” interchangeably; however, there are several important differences between the two,” says Kelly Workman, PsyD, a psychologist at Columbia University Medical Center. According to Workman, hearing is the passive intake of sound while listening is the act of intentionally working to comprehend the sounds (e.g., words or background noises) you hear.

Kelly Workman, PsyD

The saying ‘In one ear, out the other’ speaks to the difference between hearing and listening.

Requires no effort

Physiological perception of sound

Intentional interpretation of sound

Hearing

Hearing is a passive, involuntary, and sensory process in which we perceive sounds. It is a physiological response that involves our perception of sound. It does not require focused attention.

For example, if you’re watching television, you can still hear the sound of traffic or sirens outside, your neighbor’s dog barking, and people laughing in the hallway.

Listening

Listening is an active, voluntary, and intentional process that involves making sense of the words and sounds you hear; it requires your attention. In turn, you may develop an emotional response to what you hear. Listening with the intent to understand is referred to as active listening.

For example, if you’re listening to someone talk about a difficult day they had at work, you will probably have your full attention focused on them. As they speak, you will start to understand what their experience was like and the impact it had on them. This will help you make thoughtful comments and ask relevant questions to further understand their experience.

The Role of Hearing and Listening in Mental Health

Both hearing and listening play an important role in our lives. Hearing is a form of sensory input whereas listening is a way to form connections with other people, according to Workman. She explains the role these functions play in our mental health.

Importance of Hearing in Mental Health

Hearing is an important sense that helps us navigate the world. The loss of hearing can have a profound effect on mental health as it could lead to anger, social withdrawal, changes in our sense of self-worth, and depression.

It is important to keep in mind that using sign language and paying attention to body language are ways you can listen without the sense of hearing. You can seek mental health care if you are experiencing depression or adjustment difficulties due to the loss of hearing.

Importance of Listening in Mental Health

We are social beings and have a universal need for connection and belonging. Listening is what enables us to develop increased curiosity about other people’s experiences, increased compassion and empathy, and increased connection.

If you are not listening to others or being listened to, it can negatively affect your sense of connection and belonging. You can probably think of a time when you were not being listened to; the experience may have caused you to feel devalued, uncared for, and lonely, all of which can contribute to feelings of shame, anxiety, and depression.

Listening and engaging with others can strengthen your relationships. Similarly, the lack of listening can create tension and distance in relationships, make it difficult to resolve conflicts, and affect your mental health and well-being.

What Does It Mean to Hear and not Listen?

“People often listen with the intent to respond rather than the intent to understand. This means that they are relying more on hearing than listening,” says Workman.

Workman lists some reasons why you may be hearing and not listening:

Kelly Workman, PsyD

The implication of hearing rather than listening is that it might be hard to feel connected to others.

It’s also possible that you just might not be that interested, in which case Workman says it is important to check in with your values and have awareness of what types of connection and relationships are important to you and what type of communication partner you want to be.

Tips to Become a Better Listener

It is in fact possible to become a better listener. Workman suggests some tips that can help you improve your listening skills:

A Word From Verywell

While we often equate hearing with listening, the former is typically a passive activity whereas the latter is more active. There are in fact steps you can take to become a better listener. Making the effort to actively listen to the people around you can help you connect with them and improve your relationships with them.

Tyagi B. Listening: An important skill and its various aspects. The Criterion International Journal in English. 2013;12.

Blazer DG, Tucci DL. Hearing loss and psychiatric disorders: A review. Psychological Medicine. 2018;49(6): doi:10.1017/s0033291718003409

Difference Between Hearing and Listening

Last updated on October 28, 2017 by Surbhi S

Someone rightly said, “Hearing is through ears, but listening is through the mind.” The two activities hearing and listening involve the use of ears, but they are different. The hearing is nothing but a sense that helps you receive sound waves and noise by ears. It is the power of perceiving sounds.

On the contrary, listening is when you receive the sound waves and understand it by paying full attention to the words and sentences of the speaker. It is one’s ability to correctly receive and interpret the message transferred by the other party in the process of communication.

For many people, these two activities are one, but the truth is, the difference between hearing and listening is vital. so have a glance at this article to understand the terms completely.

Content: Hearing Vs Listening

Comparison Chart

Definition of Hearing

The natural ability or an inborn trait that allows us to recognize sound through ears by catching vibrations is called the hearing. In simple terms, it is one of the five senses; that makes us aware of the sound. It is an involuntary process, whereby a person receives sound vibrations, continuously.

A normal human being’s hearing capability ranges from 20 to 20000 Hertz, called as audio or sonic. Any frequency above and below the given range is known as ultrasonic and infrasonic respectively.

Definition of Listening

Listening is defined as the learned skill, in which we can receive sounds through ears, and transform them into meaningful messages. To put simply, it is the process of diligently hearing and interpreting the meaning of words and sentences spoken by the speaker, during the conversation.

Listening is a bit difficult, because it requires concentration and attention, and the human mind is easily distracted. People use it as a technique to comprehend, what is being said, through different verbal and non-verbal signs, i.e. how it is being said? What type of words is used? Tone and pitch of voice, body language and so on.

Active listening is the key element; that makes the communication process effective. Further, it encompasses making sounds that show listener’s attentiveness and providing feedback. It had a greater influence in our lives and used to gain information, learn and understand things and so on.

Key Differences Between Hearing and Listening

The following points are vital so far as the difference between hearing and listening is concerned

Hearing vs Listening – Mastering Communication

While some people may use the words hearing and listening as synonyms, there’s nuance between hearing vs. listening. One is more active and requires effort, while the other is involuntary and natural. To master learning and communication, it takes both hearing and listening.

Let’s understand the differences so that mastering communication can be an achievable goal. This will help in school, in work, and in life overall.

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

Definitions: Hearing vs. Listening

According to the dictionary, hearing is defined as “the process, function or power of perceiving a sound.”

On the other hand, the same dictionary defines listening as “to hear something with thoughtful attention.”

In their definitions alone, it’s clear to see the big difference between the two. Listening requires attention, meaning it’s active. Hearing is passive — you can’t close your ears, so sounds will enter and be heard. This makes it involuntary.

Definitions: Active vs. Passive Listening

Active listening:

The listener is attempting to really internalize and understand what they are hearing. This requires motivation and purpose. The listener has an intention to connect and participate.

Passive listening:

Exhibits itself when the listener is disconnected and is unreceptive.

Defining the Differences

Continuous vs. Temporary:

Hearing is continuous. You will hear sounds all day because it’s a physiological aspect of being. However, listening is temporary because it requires attention and focus, which can’t be given at every hour of the day. As such, listening becomes psychological.

Involuntary vs. Voluntary:

Hearing is involuntary, meaning you don’t choose to do it. That’s why you can hear people talking, but you can choose not to listen and focus on what they are saying. This is like the phrase “in one ear, out the other.”

Reasons Hearing is Different from Listening

Listening requires patience and practice. This is based on a few different reasons, including:

The Physiological Reason:

Our brain can actually process words faster than people can speak them. The difference is major. People speak, on average, 125 words per minute, but our brains are capable to take in 800 words per minute. That’s why we can take in words, but still think be thinking as the words are coming in.

The Emotional Reason:

The amount at which we listen depends on how much we care. The depth at which we care can help to curtail the side thoughts that enter our mind when we are listening to someone talk.

How to Be an Active Listener

Active listening requires attention and care. Here are ways in which you can practice being an active listener:

1. Ask good questions:

When listening attentively, you can ask good questions. You can follow what the speaker is trying to convey and respond back with detailed and accurate questions to push the conversation further.

2. Be curious:

With anything in life, curiosity has the power to take us to greater levels. When you express curiosity during listening and genuinely want to know more, you will be better focused and pay attention.

3. Wait to speak:

One of the main tenets and sometimes the hardest part about being a listener is not interrupting. To actively listen, you have to rely on the cues that someone is done speaking before you open your mouth to talk. This comes in the form of hearing them close a sentence or thought, as well as non-verbal cues.

4. Stay focused:

Being focused means that you have to silence the other thoughts in your mind and pay attention to the words being spoken. One way you can practice on your focus outside of active listening can be meditation. This practice will help you learn how to be present so that when you are in the middle of a conversation, your mind is focused on what is happening with the other person, rather than thoughts about the past or future.

5. Don’t fill in holes:

If there’s a part of someone’s story that feels missing, don’t fill in the blanks yourself. Instead, ask the questions that will help you clarify and make better sense of the information.

Foundations of Effective Communication

Effective communication builds relationships. It also is a major part of learning and solving problems. When it comes to all aspects of life, you will want to be a good communicator to accomplish your goals and move things forward. Some of the foundations of effective communication include:

Benefits of Listening

Today, we live in a world where we have so many different ways to communicate. However, with so much information circulating, it can be hard to remember things we hear. That’s why active listening is so important.

It’s also one of the reasons that podcasts and the digital revolution of audio entertainment is moving forward full-throttle. We all love stories, and some of the best ways we remember and understand them is by listening.

Listening is also a way that we feel understood. Since active listening requires the other person to focus and care about what we are saying, it is how we know that they are understanding our thoughts, feelings and desires. By listening, we are able to:

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

The Bottom Line: From Hear to Here

Ears give people the ability to hear, but listening gives people the ability to be here and in the present. Listening makes understanding happen, so that communication is actionable and insightful.

While you can’t practice how you hear, you can practice and hone the skills for how you listen. Understanding the difference between hearing vs listening is one step in being able to master good communication skills.

Difference Between Hearing and Listening

It is the ear which acts as a medium to absorb sound waves and pass them to the brain to perceive and decipher them. Without the ear, an individual cannot hear any sounds.

Only when we have the ability to hear, it will help us in communicating back properly. Hence, the ear plays a vital role in the way we communicate with the outside world.

And hearing is one of the most crucial sense which we possess. There are two different concepts involved when it comes to the activity of perceiving these sound waves.

One is hearing and the other one is listening. Hearing is the inherent ability of the individual to distinguish a sound.

It is all about the inherent potential of the individual to recognize the sound. It may not be correct to say that the individual has understood the information conveyed on the context of hearing alone.

Hearing vs Listening

The main difference between hearing and listening is that listening deals with understanding or perceiving the sound waves, which has an in-depth meaning. But this is not the case with the hearing because we are not aware of what has been conveyed.

Listening requires our focus and attention to understand the things which we hear. No effort is put by an individual to hear as it is an involuntary process but it requires effort to listen as this is a voluntary process done by the individual.

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The brain deciphers and understands the received sound waves and an appropriate decision is taken.

Comparison Table Between Hearing and Listening

What is Hearing?

Hearing is the natural ability of an individual to perceive and receive sound with the help of ear. It remains as a natural process unless an individual is affected by any hearing impairment issues.

Hearing is one of the five senses which is important for any individual. Hearing is not a forced process. It occurs continuously without the intervention of the individual.

It happens on its own. Thus, hearing can be stated as an involuntary process.

No effort is put by the individual to activate or reach the state of hearing. All it requires is our sense organ, i.e. ear to receive the sound waves.

We hear different sounds and pressure waves in our daily life. But not all the sound waves are deciphered and recognised by our brain.

Human beings can hear sound waves of a particular frequency only. The audible range lies between twenty and twenty thousand hertz (hertz is the unit of frequency).

The frequency below twenty is called as infrasonic and the frequency above twenty thousand hertz belongs to the ultrasonic range. Neither ultrasonic nor infrasonic remains audible to the human ear.

What is Listening?

Hearing acts as the gateway for listening. Listening is the process in which the sound waves are recognised and deciphered by the brain.

This happens only when we start paying attention to the sound waves, we receive. Therefore, listening turns out to be a voluntary process.

It is something which we need to consciously aware of, to interpret the sound waves. Listening is not a continuous process.

It requires attention and concentration on what we hear. Since our mind tends to get distracted easily for small things, listening can be acquired only through constant practice.

It is a skill which can be learnt and strengthened as we keep working on it. Hence, listening can be termed as a voluntary process carried out by the individual.

There are two types of listening. One is active listening and the other one being passive listening.

As the name suggests, the active listening involves active participation of the individual. The active listener not only listens but also contribute to the conversation by taking part in discussions, asking questions etc…

Whereas the passive listener does not involve in any contribution to the conversation.

Main Differences Between Hearing and Listening

Conclusion

Listening is dependent on hearing as the sound waves can be understood only when we receive it. Receiving takes place naturally as hearing is an involuntary process.

Though hearing can be a common attribute, listening is a talent which gets mastered only by a few.