Listening and Hearing....

Problem statement: Hearing is exercise for the ears but listening is exercise for the brain.

This was the problem statement given to us Future Foresters and we agree with it. Why?? It's simple. Hearing and listening are two different activities. You can be hearing someone talking but you need not necessarily be LISTENING to that person's speech.

Listening according to various dictionaries can be....

1. to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear.
2. to pay attention; heed; obey (often fol. by to): Children don't always listen to their parents.
3. to wait attentively for a sound (usually fol. by for): to listen for sounds of their return.
4. Informal. to convey a particular impression to the hearer; sound: The new recording doesn't listen as well as the old one.

Hearing on the other handbrings forward these meanings...

1.the faculty or sense by which sound is perceived.
2.the act of perceiving sound.

In other words, when you simply HEAR speech, it does not necessarily mean that you're LISTENING to it. Listening actually requires you to interpret what the other party is saying and respond to it thus making it an exercise for the brain.

HEARING however is when you DON'T bother about what the person is saying and just let the words literally in one ear and out the other =)

That is the best explanation we can give =)