What are the receiving and remembering in listening?

Receiving

Receiving is the intentional focus on hearing a speaker’s message, which happens when we filter out other sources so that we can isolate the message and avoid the confusing mixture of incoming stimuli. At this stage, we are still only hearing the message. Notice in Figure 4.3 “Stages of Feedback” that this stage is represented by the ear because it is the primary tool involved with this stage of the listening process.

One of the authors of this book recalls attending a political rally for a presidential candidate at which about five thousand people were crowded into an outdoor amphitheater. When the candidate finally started speaking, the cheering and yelling was so loud that the candidate couldn’t be heard easily despite using a speaker system. In this example, our coauthor had difficulty receiving the message because of the external noise. This is only one example of the ways that hearing alone can require sincere effort, but you must hear the message before you can continue the process of listening.

The Receiving Stage

The first stage of the listening process is the receiving stage, which involves hearing and attending.

Learning Objectives

Define the receiving stage of the listening process

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• Hearing is the physiological process of registering sound waves as they hit the eardrum.
• Attending is the process of accurately identifying particular sounds we hear as words.
• Attending also involves being able to discern breaks between words, or speech segmentation.

Key Terms

• Hearing: The physiological process of registering sound waves as they hit the eardrum.
• Attending: The process of accurately identifying particular sounds as words.
• Receiving stage: The first stage of the listening process, which involves hearing and attending.

The Receiving Stage

The first stage of the listening process is the receiving stage, which involves hearing and attending.

Use Your Ears!: The first stage of the listening process is receiving.

Hearing is the physiological process of registering sound waves as they hit the eardrum. As obvious as it may seem, in order to effectively gather information through listening, we must first be able to physically hear what we’re listening to. The clearer the sound, the easier the listening process becomes.

Paired with hearing, attending is the other half of the receiving stage in the listening process. Attending is the process of accurately identifying and interpreting particular sounds we hear as words. The sounds we hear have no meaning until we give them their meaning in context. Listening is an active process that constructs meaning from both verbal and nonverbal messages.

The Challenges of Reception

Listeners are often bombarded with a variety of auditory stimuli all at once, so they must differentiate which of those stimuli are speech sounds and which are not. Effective listening involves being able to focus in on speech sounds while disregarding other noise. For instance, a train passenger that hears the captain’s voice over the loudspeaker understands that the captain is speaking, then deciphers what the captain is saying despite other voices in the cabin. Another example is trying to listen to a friend tell a story while walking down a busy street. In order to best listen to what she’s saying, the listener needs to ignore the ambient street sounds.

Attending also involves being able to discern human speech, also known as “speech segmentation. “1 Identifying auditory stimuli as speech but not being able to break those speech sounds down into sentences and words would be a failure of the listening process. Discerning speech segmentation can be a more difficult activity when the listener is faced with an unfamiliar language.

Effective Listening Skills

Most of what we do in the Writing Center is listen, but there’s a difference between hearing and understanding the words someone is saying and listening to their message. Listening to your writers and your coworkers is vital to maintaining good conversation and avoiding misunderstandings that might lead to unnecessary conflict.

Stages of Listening

Receiving

The first stage in the process of listening is receiving the speaker’s message, which involves isolating the message from all other sounds and interpreting what’s been said. Attending to the message is perhaps the most important part of the receiving stage because sounds have no meaning to them until they’re given context. During this stage, try to avoid thinking about other things while the speaker is talking to ensure no information is missed.

In the case of internal business communication, a manager practicing effective listening skills will hear all of an employee’s concerns and will be able to take appropriate action to solve an issue immediately. In external business communication, a salesperson will be able to understand all their client’s concerns or desires regarding a project, such as the anticipated budget.

Understanding

During the understanding stage of listening, we attempt to comprehend the message’s meaning. It’s during this stage that incorrect meaning can be applied to a message. Asking questions to fill any information gaps is the best way to better understand a message. To ensure information is understood correctly in the workplace, repeat any instructions or messages to the speaker.

Evaluating

Through the evaluating stage of listening, information is qualitatively and quantitatively assessed before a response is formed. To effectively evaluate the message, there should be no additional ambiguities or time spent sorting out insignificant points. According to Lumen Learning, this is the stage in which you determine if the information from the speaker is well constructed or disorganized, biased or unbiased, and valid. Try to determine if the speaker’s supporting points are valid, and then mentally review and summarize what’s been said.

Responding

The responding, or feedback, stage is when the listener indicates their involvement in the conversation through either verbal or non-verbal cues. This stage is based on both short- and long-term memories, and it creates action in what would otherwise be a passive procedure. During this stage, the listener may ask questions, nod, take notes, give applause or simply sit in silence. The key is to give the speaker regular feedback to display interest.

Remembering

If the listener is unable to remember what the speaker was saying, chances are they were not effectively listening. While complex messages that contain many details require developed listening skills, some messages can be misinterpreted because of a small distraction, in which the listener misses out on information before they focus on listening again.

Remembering all the pieces of information is crucial to moving forward in the conversation and with any future actions. According to Harvard Business Review, we tend to forget up to half of what we’ve heard within the first eight hours of listening to it. Some of the ways to improve memory is to use the information gained immediately, or to relate the information to what was learned in previous conversations for a wider context. Grasping onto the whole idea of the conversation rather than just the facts will also improve memory.

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Active Listening

Active listening is a particular communication technique that requires the listener to provide feedback on what he or she hears to the speaker, by way of restating or paraphrasing what they have heard in their own words. The goal of this repetition is to confirm what the listener has heard and to confirm the understanding of both parties. The ability to actively listen demonstrates sincerity, and that nothing is being assumed or taken for granted. Active listening is most often used to improve personal relationships, reduce misunderstanding and conflicts, strengthen cooperation, and foster understanding.

When engaging with a particular speaker, a listener can use several degrees of active listening, each resulting in a different quality of communication with the speaker. This active listening chart shows three main degrees of listening: repeating, paraphrasing, and reflecting.

Active listening can also involve paying attention to the speaker’s behavior and body language. Having the ability to interpret a person’s body language lets the listener develop a more accurate understanding of the speaker’s message.