Listening Skills

Listening Skills
Many communication problems develop
because listening skills are ignored, forgotten, or
just taken for granted.
We confuse hearing with Listening.
 Hearing

• Hearing is simply an act of perceiving sound by ears.

• It is a physiological, automatic and a fast process involving the

vibration of sound waves on our ear drums and reacting to
electrochemical impulses.

• It is carried from inner ear to the central auditory system of the

brain.

• The brain transmits this into sounds of what we hear.

 Listening- Definition

• Listening is defined as the process of hearing, receiving, constructing

meaning from and responding to verbal and non-verbal messages.

• Listening is making sense out of what we hear.

• Listening requires paying attention, interpreting, and remembering sound

and visual stimuli.

• It is the most frequent and important type of on-the-job communication

• Listening is the most crucial skills for becoming a successful manager

Listening

= Hearing + Comprehending + Interpreting + Responding

 Do you know these?
• We listen at 125-250 wpm, think at 1000-
3000 wpm
• 75% of the time we are distracted,
preoccupied or forgetful
• 20% of the time, we remember what we
hear
• More than 35% of businesses think
listening is a top skill for success
• Less than 2% of people have had formal
education with listening
 Benefits of Listening
• Understanding the views of others

• Establish rapport quickly

• Improve intellectual ability

• Enables to gather views, opinions and feelings

• Enables to facilitate appropriate decision-making ability

• Helps to express views clearly

Stages of Listening as proposed by
Joseph De Vito
 Stages of Listening as proposed by
Joseph De Vito
• The receiving stage of listening is the basic stage where
an individual hears a message being sent by a speaker.
• The understanding stage of listening occurs when a
receiver of a message attempts to figure out the
meaning of the message.
• The remembering stage of listening is when a listener
either places information into long-term memory or
forgets the information presented.
• The evaluating stage of listening occurs when a listener
judges the content of the message or the character of
the speaker.
 Stages of Listening as proposed by
Joseph De Vito
• The responding/feedback stage of listening occurs
when a listener provides verbal or nonverbal feedback
about the speaker or message.
During the responding stage of listening, listeners can
provide speakers with two types of feedback
designed to help a speaker know whether a
listener is understanding and what the listener
thinks of a message.
Formative feedback is given while the speaker is
engaged in the act of speech making.
Summative feedback is given at the conclusion of a
speech.
 Types/Approaches to Listening
• Discriminative Listening: It involves an attempt to distinguish
one sound from all the others.
Discriminative listening develops through childhood and
into adulthood. As we grow older and develop and
gain more life experience, our ability to distinguish
between different sounds is improved. Not only can we
recognise different voices, but we also develop the
ability to recognise subtle differences in the way that
sounds are made – this is fundamental to ultimately
understanding what these sound mean.

• Comprehensive Listening: It involves understanding a

speaker’s message in totality, to interpret the meaning as
precisely as possible
 Types/Approaches to Listening
• Critical Listening: It involves judging the clarity, accuracy and reliability of
the evidence that is presented and being alert to the effects of emotional
appeals.
Critical listening means engaging in what you are listening to by
asking yourself questions such as, ‘what is the speaker trying to say?’
or ‘what is the main argument being presented?’, ‘how does what
I’m hearing differ from my beliefs, knowledge or opinion?’. Critical
listening is, therefore, fundamental to true learning.

• Empathetic/Therapeutic Listening: It involves encouraging the

speaker to express fully and provide him/her an affirmation
with neutral summaries of what has been heard and
understood.
Empathic listening involves attempting to understand the
feelings and emotions of the speaker – to put yourself into
the speaker’s shoes and share their thoughts.
 Physiological Barriers to Effective Listening

• Hearing impairment- Hearing deficiencies

• Listening-Thinking rate- We listen at 125-250 wpm, think at

1000-3000 wpm
Environmental Barriers to Effective Listening

• Physical Distraction: Disturbing sounds, poor acoustics,

uncomfortable seating arrangements, etc

• Message Overload: Quick succession of messages

 Attitudinal Barriers to Effective Listening

• Prejudices: Pre-conceived feelings

• Preoccupation: Engrossed with other concerns

• Casual Attitude: Assumption to hear without effort

• Egocentrism: Over concerned with oneself

 Poor Listening Habits

• Faking attention

• Listening only for facts

• Avoiding difficult and uninteresting material

• Focusing on delivery

• Lack of common experiences

 How to be a Good Listener
• Be motivated to Listen

• Be prepared to Listen

• Be objective

• Be alert to all cues

• Make good use of thinking-speaking time difference

• Use feedback

• Practice Listening

• Use verbal and non-verbal cues to encourage the speaker