What is the difference between hearing and listening? Comparative table, characteristics and examples

The difference between hearing and listening has to do with the types of physiological or cognitive processes associated with each.

Hearing is perceiving a sound, which requires the functioning of the sense of hearing and the auditory system to interpret what it is about.

Listening, on the other hand, involves not only the action of hearing sounds, but also understanding them and responding based on these stimuli. Therefore, it involves cognitive processes of attention, concentration, memory and learning.

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Hear	Hear
Definition	Ability to perceive sound stimuli.	Ability to pay attention to sounds and interpret them.
Systems and processes involved	Auditive System: External ear. Middle ear. Inner ear.	Auditive System: External ear. Middle ear. Inner ear. Cognitive processes: Attention. Memory. Understanding. Learning.
Characteristics	It is a physiological response. It requires the functioning of the auditory system. It is an involuntary act. It involves the permanent activation of the auditory system. It is an ability that can be lost over time. It is a capacity that may be absent or restricted in some people.	It is a physiological and cognitive act. It is a voluntary action. It involves attention and concentration. It is an ability that can be lost over time. It is a capacity that may be absent or restricted in some people.
Factors that can influence	Auditory pathologies. Age. Injuries	Auditory pathologies. Cognitive pathologies. Attention and / or concentration problems.
Examples	Being on the street and hearing the sound of trees, car horns and pedestrian steps simultaneously.	Hear a conversation, pay attention to what is being said, understand it and generate a coherent response from what you have heard.

What is hearing?

Hearing is the action of perceiving a sound, therefore, it refers to the physiological capacity to receive a stimulus in the form of sound waves and interpret it.

When we walk down the street and we can perceive the sound of the wind, the horns of the cars or some upcoming conversation, we are hearing.

No specific action or will is required to hear. The sounds are in the environment and the auditory system is responsible for capturing them.

In that sense, hearing is a response of our body to a sound stimulus, it is not something that we can control at will. This means that we cannot avoid hearing, unless we take appropriate measures (wearing headphones, covering our ears, or being in an isolated room).

Hear comes from latin audiere, which means to perceive a sound.

What do we need to hear?

To hear, the correct functioning of the auditory system is required, which consists of three parts:

Outer ear

It is the visible part of the ear. It is made up of the lobe, the pinna, and the eardrum.

Middle ear

It is the part that communicates the outer ear with the inner ear. There is the chain of ossicles, composed of three bony structures called the hammer, anvil and stapes.

Inner ear

The cochlea (a snail-shaped structure) contains the cells and auditory nerves that send sound to the brain.

How does the auditory system work?

Sound is made up of sound waves. These stimuli enter through the outer ear and pass through the eardrum generating vibrations.

These vibrations reach the middle ear and the chain of ossicles is responsible for receiving and sending them to the inner ear.

When these sound waves reach the cochlea, they drive the output of hair cells, responsible for convert the vibrations into electrical impulses, which will then be sent to the brain through the nerve auditory.

Once in the brain, these impulses are interpreted as sounds. This means that the auditory system does not stop, since this process occurs without interruption with all the sound stimuli that are in the environment and that we can perceive.

Factors that can affect hearing

Having a hearing system does not mean that you have the ability to hear. There are a few factors that can affect this ability:

pathologies (innate or not) that generated hearing loss.
Age: aging in some people involves hearing loss.
Trauma, that is, accidents or injuries that damaged the hearing system.

Depending on the type of pathology or trauma, it is possible to recover the ability to hear totally or partially with the help of hearing aids or clump implants, after a medical evaluation.

What is listening?

Listening is the act of paying attention to a sound. This requires the functioning of the auditory system and also other cognitive and psychological processes or functions.

Listening requires the will of the listener, because if your auditory system works properly you will hear. But it is your interest, concentration, attention and memory that will allow you to understand, retain and even respond to what you hear.

Listen comes from Latin I will auscultate, which means "bend over to apply the ear."

How do we listen?

In the communicative process there are several elements:

transmitter: is the one who sends the message.
Receiver: is the one who receives the message.
Code: is the system used to create the message (Spanish language, binary code, etc.).
Message: is that what you want to transmit or communicate.
Channel: is the means used to send the message (telephone, web, email, etc.).
Noise: these are interference or problems that may arise during communication.
Feedback: is the answer given by the receiver, which from that moment becomes the sender.
Context: it is the situation in which the communicative act is generated.

For the communicative process to be successful, it is required that the sender sends a message, and that the receiver receives and interprets it. If the situation warrants it, the receiver will have to answer (feedback), but you will not be able to do it properly if you did not understand or pay attention to the message.

A classic example of listening is that of a class in which all students are hearing what is being said, but not all are listening. Some students are not attentive, others may not hear well, others may be able to hear but do not have the cognitive ability to understand what they are hearing, etc.

Factors that can affect listening

Hearing does not necessarily mean listening. There are some factors that can interfere with this process:

Hearing problems: If a sound is not perceived properly, it will be difficult to interpret.
Attention difficulties: people with attention deficit cannot concentrate on a task for a long time. This can lead to listening problems.
Problems in the communication process: noise, incomplete message, failures in communication channels, etc.
Cognitive problems: memory loss or dementia can cause problems understanding what you hear.