Many assume that listening and hearing are one and the same, however, that is not the case. Hearing is very much like looking because it is a “detached registration and classification of external phenomena.” Hearing is detached from communication. Unless a person is deaf, hearing is unintentional. Sound is automatically transmitted through air and enters the ear. The sounds are then processed in the brain, which is very similar to the registration of language.
Listening is an intentional act. It involves active engagement. Where hearing is automatic, a person can choose to listen. Listening requires the effort of distinguishing between sounds and spoken words. It is a process that is culturally and socially structured. Listening involves the practice of communication where new symbols and signs are created. It aims to steadily prolong communication. Hearing is considered to be monological, whereas listening is dialogical. Listening requires more than one person in the communicating process.
David Lieberman discusses the fact that many people do not know how to listen. It is a process that needs practice. In many instances, people are not aware of the possibilities of sound. For instance, he asks that the class listen to the spaces between musical notes. He believes that space goes beyond mere physicality. Space can also be defined by timbre, tonality and movement. Sound in itself can define spacial parameters without physical markers.
Works Cited:
Carter Paul. “Ambiguous Traces, Mishearing, and Auditory Space.” Hearing Cultures: Essays on Sound, Listening and Modernity. Ed. Veit Erlmann. New York: Berg, 2004.
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