In class today, we discussed the topic of Listening,
one that is often over looked but can be the key to good communication. Many
people think that they are good listeners but there is a difference between
listening and hearing. We were asked to read a New York Times article that
explained the difference between listening and hearing. After reading I
still had trouble understanding so I looked more into the topic and found
another article. In this article it breaks down the differences between
Listening and Hearing right down to the definition
“Hearing is through ears, but listening is through
the mind.”
Hearing
is defined as, "an ability to perceive sounds, by
receiving vibrations through ears." This is one of the five senses we are
born with and occurs at the subconscious level. Because this is something that
we are born with we do not have control over what we hear.
Listening on the other-hand is defined as
"something done consciously, that involve the analysis and understanding
of the sounds you hear." Unlike hearing listening is not one of the five
senses but does involve the use of multiple senses. Two important aspects of
listening is concentration and attention to retain the information. Listening
is an acquired skill that we are often selective about what we listen to.
After understanding the difference, I find it interesting how
daily interactions that occur every day are an example of listening vs hearing.
When someone mentions in a conversation that they are going to class and we
acknowledge them but then five minutes later question where they are, this an
example of hearing them but not listening to them. We didn't retain the
fact that they are going to class but all we heard was that they were leaving.
Becoming a good listener is something that I need to work on if I want to grow
as an individual, good friend, and future employee.
Work
Cited
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/opinion/sunday/why-listening-is-so-much-more-than-hearing.html
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