Listening is an active process that involves concentrating on sounds, deriving meaning, and responding, whereas hearing is a passive biological process. There are different types of listening including attentive, selective, and intuitive listening. Barriers to effective listening include physical barriers like noise as well as psychological barriers such as preconceptions and personal anxiety. Active listening skills like paraphrasing and maintaining eye contact help ensure the speaker feels heard and understood.

1. LISTENING

2. INTRODUCTION
Every person has a story and every wants to be heard. In
today’s busy world of technology doing more and pressures to
meet deadlines, a person’s need to be listened to is sometimes
rushed. So listening receiving language through ears and
identifying the sounds of speech and processing the into words
and sentences.
Listening is often confused with hearing. While hearing is
a biological process that can be scientifically explained, listening
is a neurological cognitive regarding the processing of auditory
stimuli received by the auditory system.

3. Definition
Listening is the ability to identify and understand what others
are saying. This involves understanding a speaker's accent or
pronunciation, his grammar and his vocabulary, and grasping his
meaning (Howatt and Dakin).
Roland Barthes, a linguist, distinguishes between hearing and
listening, stating, "Hearing is a physiological phenomenon;
listening is a psychological act."

4. Types of Listening
• Attentive Listening – involves paying attention to the words
that are being spoken rather than understanding the head and
heart of the person speaking. Also called as effective listening.
• Pretending listening – pretending through facial expressions
that communicated message is listened. It is basically hearing
and not listening.
• Selective Listening – it means not taking messages as it is, but
adding or deducting according to one’s own whims and wishes
i.e selecting the desired part and ignoring the undesired part. It
generally involves strengthening one’s own beliefs and restrains
further listening.
• Intuitive listening – listening through intuitive mind by
silencing the other internal dialogues going simultaneously.

5. Objectives of Listening
Communication is a central theme in all situation, so there are
several reasons why, as people and as a professionals, we should
listen to others.
 To acquire information
 To empathize
 To discriminate
 To evaluate
 To appreciate
 To derive others benefits

6. PROCESS OF LISTENING
Understanding
Remembering
Evaluating
Responding
Receiving

7. 1. Receiving
It refers to the response caused by sound waves stimulating the
sensory receptors of the ear.
2. Understanding
It is the stage at which you learn what the speaker means.
3. Remembering
It is important listening process because it means that an
individual has not only received and interpreted a message but
has also added it to the mind's storage bank.
4. Evaluating
It consists of judging the messages in some way. At times you
may try to evaluate the speaker’s underlying intentions or
motives.
5. Responding
This stage requires that the receiver complete the process
through verbal and/or Non-verbal feedback.

8. Active Listening
People want more than a physical presence in human
communication, they want the other person to be present
psychologically, socially and emotionally. So active listening is
about being present in ways that identify key messages and
feelings, attempting to understand the client in terms of his/her
context.
• Active Listening is the ability to focus on a speaker,
understand their message, comprehend the information and
respond thoughtfully.
• Validates one’s need to vent, need to be understood, need to
be heard.

9. Active Listening Process :
1. HEARING
Hearing is the first essential step in the listening process and
relates to the sensory perception of sound.
2. FILTERING
The next step involves sensing and filtering of heard sounds. The heard
message is categorized as wanted or unwanted. The unwanted
message is discarded.
3. COMPREHENDING
The listener understands what the speaker has tried to convey. This
activity can be described as absorbing, grasping or assimilating. The
listener uses his knowledge, experience, perception and cognitive
power.
4. REMEMBERING
The assimilated message is stored in memory to facilitate future recall.
5. RESPONDING
Responding to a message takes place at the end of the
communication, immediately after or later, to show that the message
is being received and comprehended.

10. Skills involved in Listening
 Being as open, intuitive, empathetic and self aware as
possible.
 Maintaining good eye contact.
 Paying attention to Non-verbal forms of communication and
their meaning.
 Picking up and following cues.
 Being aware of own distracting mannerisms and behavior.
 Avoiding making vague, unclear and ambiguous comments.
 Minimizing the possibility of interruptions and distractions.
 Being aware of the importance of timing, particularly where
strong feelings are involved.
 Avoiding the dangers of preconceptions, stereotyping or
labeling or making premature judgments or evaluations.
 Being as natural, spontaneous and relaxed as possible.

11.  Verbal Active Listening Skills :
 Paraphrase : Summarize the main points of the message the
speaker shared to show you fully understand their message or
meaning. This will also give the speaker an oppurtunity to
clarify vague information.
 Display Empathy : Make sure the speaker understand you’re
able to recognize their emotion and share their feelings. By
showing compassion you’re able to connect with the speaker
and begin establishing a sense of mutual trust.
 Use Short Verbal Affirmations : Short positive statements will
help the speaker feel more comfortable ad shoe you're
engaged and able to process the information they’re
providing.
 Recall Previously Shared Information : Try to remember key
concepts, ideas or other critical points the speaker has shared
in the past.

12.  Non-Verbal Active Listening Skill :
 Nod : Offering the speaker a few nods shows you understand
what they’re saying. A nod is helpful, supportive cue.
 Smile : Like a nod, a small smile encourages a speaker to
continue. This helps to diffuse any tension and ensures the
speaker feels comfortable.
 Avoid Distracted Movements : Being still can communicate
focus. To do this avoid movements like glancing at watch or
phone, audibly sighing , doodling or tapping a pen.
 Maintain Eye Contact : Always keep your eyes on the speaker
and avoid looking at other objects in the room.

13. Smith (1986) divides poor listeners into three categories :
• Pretend Listeners :
Who are ‘not actually listening at all but pretending to’ . They
have learnt to respond in appropriate places, thereby giving the
impression of listening.
• Limiting Listeners :
Who practices ‘a type of partial listening where the listeners
consciously determines that he/she will attend only certain
portions of the speaker’s remarks’.
• Self Centered Listeners :
Who ‘are concerned only with themselves and pay little or
no attention to others’.

14. Barriers to Effective Listening
• Physical Barriers
• People – Related Barriers :
i. Physiological Barriers
ii. Psychological Barriers
Physical Barriers :
• Noise
• Poor acoustics
• Frequent interruptions
• Uncomfortable seating arrangements
• Uncomfortable environment

15. People – Related Barriers :
i. Physiological Barriers :
• State of Health – State of health of the listener and the
speaker affects the listening ability. Fever, pain or any other form
of bodily discomfort makes it difficult for a person to listen or
speak comfortably.
• Disability – Hearing deficiencies may lead to poor listening.
Similarly, speech disorders of the speaker may make a speech
incoherent to the listener. Speaker’s accent may also make it
difficult for the listener to comprehend.
• Wandering attention – Human mind can process words at the
rate of about 500 per minute, whereas a speaker speaks at the
rate of about 150 per minute. The difference between the two
leaves the listener with sufficient time to let his mind wander.

16. ii. Psychological Barriers :
• Being unsure of the speaker’s ability – Based on past
experience or inputs from sources, the listener may have a
preconceived notion of the speaker’s ability.
• Personal anxiety – Sometimes the listener is preoccupied with
personal concerns and anxieties. This makes it difficult to
perceive what is being said by the speaker.
• Attitude – The listener may be highly egocentric with a “know
it all attitude” and may not listen as he feels that he already
knows what the listener has to say.
• Impatience – The listener may not have patience to wait for
the other person to finish what he has to say.
• Emotional blocks – Our deep seated beliefs in certain ideas
may make it difficult for us to listen to ideas which go against
our belief. We may hear such an idea wrongly or it may get
distorted in our mind to match our perception or we may
completely block it off by not listening to it.

17. LISTENING VS HEARING
Hearing- sense that allows you to perceive sound; physical act-
only requires reception of sound waves
Listening- mental process that requires concentrating on sound,
deriving meaning from it, and reacting to it
LISTENING HEARING
Listening is an active process. When
listening, we direct attention to the act
of hearing.
Hearing is a passive process. We will
naturally hear sounds within human
hearing range unless there is some
hearing impairment.
Listening is a skill. Hearing may be natural.
Listening is a mental process. Hearing is a physiological Process.
Listening has a wider perspective as in
involves Hearing
Hearing has narrow perspective.