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 attend to, and recognize a sound without responding to, remembering, or using it. When it comes to listening to another person speak, many believe that a response is inevitable. Several models only account for externally evident responses (gestures, facial expressions, and speaking), and consider these the crossover point from listener (message receiver) to communicator (message sender).