GE Elec Chapter 3

• Hearing is a physiological process, involving the vibration of sound waves on our eardrums and the firing of electrochemical impulses from the inner ear to the central auditory system of the brain.
• Listening involves paying close attention to, and making sense of, what we hear. Even we think we are listening carefully, we usually grasp only 50% of what we hear. After 24 hours, we can remember only 10 percent of the original message. It is little wonder that listening has been called a lost art.
• Hear

  • ability
  • sounds coming to our ears
• Listen

  • focusing on the sounds
• This is not surprising when you realize that people spend more time listening than doing any other communicative activity – more than reading, more than writing, more even than speaking.
• A number of studies have shown a strong correlation between listening and academic success.
• Listening is also important to you as a speaker. It is probably the way you get most of your ideas and information – from television, radio, conversation, and lectures. If you do not listen well, you will not understand what you hear and may pass along your misunderstanding to others.
• An excellent way to improve your own speeches is to listen attentively to the speeches of other people.
• Listening plays an important role in enhancing critical thinking skills. By actively engaging in different types of listening, we can develop our ability to assess and evaluate information effectively.
• Four Kinds of Listening

  1. Appreciative Listening
  2. Empathic Listening
  3. Comprehensive Listening
  4. Critical Listening
• Appreciative listening is when we listen for pleasure or enjoyment. It involves immersing ourselves in music, comedy routines, or entertaining speeches. While this type of listening may not directly enhance critical thinking, it provides us with a break from everyday stress and allows us to appreciate the artistry and creativity of others.
• Empathic listening is about providing emotional support to the speaker. It is commonly seen in situations where a psychiatrist listens to a patient or when we lend a sympathetic ear to a friend in distress. While empathic listening focuses more on understanding and empathizing with the speaker's emotions, it can indirectly contribute to critical thinking by fostering empathy and understanding different perspectives.

   
• Comprehensive listening aims to understand the message of the speaker. It is essential in situations like attending a classroom lecture or following directions to find a friend's house. This type of listening enhances critical thinking by improving skills such as summarizing information, recalling facts, and distinguishing main points from minor points. It helps us gather and comprehend information accurately.

   
• Critical listening involves evaluating a message for the purpose of accepting or rejecting it. It is particularly important when we listen to sales pitches, political speeches, or any situation where we need to assess the validity and credibility of the information presented. 

   
• Critical thinking involves a number of skills. The following skills are central to comprehensive listening: 

  • summarizing information 
  • recalling facts 
  • distinguishing main points from minor points 
• In addition to these skills, critical thinking is particularly important in critical listening. These skills include:

  • separating facts from opinions 
  • spotting weaknesses from in reasoning 
  • judging the soundness of evidence
• Active listening is key to developing critical thinking skills. Training in listening not only improves our ability to understand and empathize but also strengthens our capacity to think critically and evaluate information effectively.

   
• Four Causes of Poor Listening

  1. Not concentrating
  2. Listening too hard
  3. Jumping to conclusions
  4. Focusing on delivery and personal appearance
• The brain is incredibly efficient. Although we talk at a rate of 120 to 150 words a minute. The brain can process 400 to 800 words a minute.
• spare brain time – the difference between the rate at which most people talk (120 to 150 words a minute) and the rate at which the brain can process language (400 to 800 words a minute)
• Listening too hard

  • This happens when we turn into human sponges, soaking up a speaker’s every word as if every word were equally important. We try to remember all the names, all the dates, all the places. In the process, we often miss the speaker’s main point. What is worse, we may end up confusing the facts as well.

   
• Jumping to conclusions

  • This happens when we put words into a speaker’s mouth. We are so sure we know what they mean, we do not listen to what they say. We also prematurely reject a speaker’s ideas as boring or misguided. We may decide early on that a speaker has nothing valuable to say. Whether it be the information, point of view, or technique, you are cheating yourself if you prejudge the speaker and choose not to listen.
• Focusing on delivery and personal appearance

  • This happens when we judge people by the way they look or speak and do not listen to what they say. It is easy to become distracted by a speaker’s accent, personal appearance, or vocal mannerisms and lose sight of the message. Focusing on a speaker’s delivery or personal appearance is one of the major sources of interference in the communication process, and it is something we always need to guard against
• The parts of a baby's brain that help with hearing, language, understanding, and smell will be more receptive and active by three months (Dawson, 2022). As time goes by, it is up to us if we want to enhance our listening skills.
• Listening is one of the most important communication skills, yet it's often overlooked or undervalued. Effective listening means hearing what someone is saying, understanding their perspective, and providing a thoughtful and appropriate response (Rahman, 2023).
• Take listening seriously

  • While listening to a conference or even a normal conversation, it is necessary for us to clearly understand the words, the thought, and the message of what the speaker wants to relay. There is a tendency that if we don't take listening seriously, it will cause confusion and misunderstanding about the thoughts that the speaker is saying. Good listeners are not born that way. They have worked hard at learning how to listen effectively. Like any other skill, it comes from practice and self-discipline
• Be an active listener

  • When listening to a speech, you should not allow yourself to be distracted by internal or external interference. Do your best to stay focused on the speaker and his or her message. Being an active listener allows us to understand others' points of view, especially the speaker. As well as preventing us from missing important information.
• Active listening – giving undivided attention to a speaker in a genuine effort to understand the speaker’s point of view.

   
• Resist distractions

  • Barriers to public speaking are totally uncontrollable. If this happens, do your best to pull your mind back to what the speaker is saying, then force it to stay there. Some examples of distractions would be the room temperature, noise outside, and more that will affect your listening. One way to do this is to think ahead of the speaker—try to anticipate what will come next.

   
• Do not be diverted by appearance or delivery

  • Never assume that a person is not a good speaker based on their looks. Do not let negative feelings about their appearance or delivery keep you from listening to the message. Same as with other situation, try not to be misled if the speaker has an unusually attractive appearance. It’s all too easy to assume that because someone is good-looking and has a polished delivery, he or she is speaking eloquently.
• Suspend judgment

  • We should hear people out before reaching a final judgement.  Listen to their ideas, examine their evidence, assess their reasoning, then make up your mind. Try to understand their point of view. Listen to their ideas, examine their evidence, assess their reasoning. The aim of active listening is to set aside “one’s own prejudices, frames of reference, and desires so as to experience as far as possible the speaker’s world from the inside.”

   
• Focus your listening

  • It is not needed for us to absorb a speaker's every word; rather, just focus on the important information.
• Listen for Evidence

  • There are four basic questions to ask about a speaker’s evidence:

  ·  Is it accurate?

  ·  Is it taken from objective sources?

  ·  Is it relevant to the speaker’s claims?

  ·  Is it sufficient to support the speaker’s point?

   
• Listen for Techniques

  ·  Analyze the introduction

  ·  Study the speaker’s language

  · Focus on the speaker’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Develop note-taking skills

  • Note-taking is an effective way for us to keep track of a speaker’s ideas. Research confirms that listening carefully and taking effective notes are vital skills for success in college. They will also benefit you in countless situations throughout life.
• Key-word outline – an outline that briefly notes a speaker’s main points and supporting evidence in rough outline form.