Wrong assumptions on the part of sender or receiver may hinder effective listening.Negative perceptions due to cultural or background differences between the speaker and the listener may lead to selective listening.Listener with a superiority complex and self-centered attitude may choose to ignore ideas of others.Information overload may lead to misunderstanding or misinterpretation by the speaker.

Vague or boring information may cause the speaker to lose interest.

Hearing Problems can hinder effective comprehension of information.

However, many factors act as barriers to communication in a typical realistic environment. The above list substantiates the different ways to listen prevalent in communication. This way to listen is highly synergistic in nature and gets accelerated through the communication which actually happens between the minds and hearts of people involved. People involved in such type of communication, listen to each other passionately to understand and to be understood in a mutual manner. (6) Deep Listening – This can also be termed as Inspired Listening. Listening to the dialogues happening internally requires a lot of focus and high levels of control. This involves concentrating on the internal voice silencing the other distractions cropping up every now and then. (5) Intuitive Listening – It happens more internally than externally. This is the best way to listen and helps to reach the crux of what is being communicated in a perfect manner. (4) Attentive Listening – It involves keen understanding of the words communicated by the Speaker rather than understanding the speaker himself. Such listeners understand people more than they yearn for themselves to be understood. They strive hard to listen in a careful manner so they can understand the communicator in the best possible way. People who listen emphatically are passionate about what is being communicated. (3) Emphatic Listening – This is one of the best ways to listen. Selective Listening reinforces one’s own ideologies and tends to restrain people from learning new things as they assimilate what is communicated in an incomplete manner. They relate what is communicated to their own life situations and personality. Listeners who belong to this type take in only what they want to assimilate. (2) Selective Listening – It is usually highly subjective in nature. However, they are only pretending to listen and no real assimilation of information happens. They nod their head or show bodily gestures to create an impression that they listen very carefully. (1) Pretending to Listen – As the very name suggests, many a times people pretend to listen to what is being communicated. It can be an internal or external activity. It can be of many types depending upon the purpose, context and characteristics of the speaker and listener. It is a crucial skill set that adds immense value to communication. Owing to the overflowing nature of information on a day to day basis and the limitations of human memory, it becomes mandatory to improve listening skills in a conscious manner. While good listeners elicit the maximum value out of the speakers, bad listeners tend to spoil the very intention of oral communication. The success of a Communicator lies mainly in the patience level of a receiver. While a speaker communicates the intended message orally, the listener plays an equally crucial role to make the communication a successful one. Listening plays a crucial role when it comes to Oral Communication.

Selective listening definition