Listening to Learn; Learning to Listen

Stages of Listening

There are many models and graphic representations of listening and the speaking-listening process:

Hearing and Sensing: perceiving a sound at the physical level.

Attending: focusing mentally on a sound.

Comprehending and Interpreting: understanding what a sound signifies.

Responding: being affected by, and possibly acting on, one's interpretation of sound(s).

Communicating and Using: restating a sound's interpretation to others or oneself, or using its information in some way.

Most model makers agree that listening may involve the first three stages. Some, however, consider “recognizing” and “attending to” a sound the same. Several models stop with the comprehension stage because their authors believe a person can hear, barely ...