Listening vs. Hearing

Many people misunderstood the concept of listening and hearing. Before i go any deeper, let us get the definition of listening and hearing clear.

Hear: 1)To be aware of sounds with your ears
2) To listen or pay attention to somebody/something

Listen: 1)To pay attention to somebody/something that you can hear
2)To take notice of what somebody says to you that you follow
their advice or believe them.

(cited from Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary)

In the textbook, hearing is defined as "the process which sounds waves strikes the eardrums and cause vibrations that are transmitted to the brain" while listening occurs when the brain reconstructs these chemical impulses into a representation of the original sound and then gives them meaning.


Now, obviously, listening and hearing are not the same thing that we always perceive them to be.

Listening is not a natural process.

Many people think that listening is involuntary, like when we breathe but it is not. Listening is a skill, like speaking, all of us can speak but only few people can do it well. It is a skill that can be improved.

What differentiates listening from hearing is that listening requires effort.
We does not have to put effort to hear but when we need to listen, it requires our full attention and also requires mental effort by the receiver to understand what the speaker(sender) is trying to say.

From my view...listening is not an easy task. We can hear what our lecturers are blabbing in front of the class, we can hear when our mom nags but the question is, do we listen to them?
so...don't just hear, but listen.

Failure to listen may cause misinterpretations. Thus, listening is very very very important in communication.

In a nutshell...

Parents! Do not just hear you kids but also listen to them as much as you want them to listen to you!