Barriers to Listening

The following list identifies just some possible barriers to effective listening;

1.   sources of noise

2.  Forming a judgment or evaluation before we understand what is being said, or ‘jumping to conclusions’.

3.  Hearing what we want to hear.

4.  Tuning out a point of view that differs from our own.

5.  Formulating and rehearsing our response.

6.  Being inattentive - thinking about something else entirely.

7.  Having a closed mind- you do not want to hear what the person has to say.

8.  Feeling anxious or self-conscious.

9.  Judging the person, either positively or negatively.

10. Subjective biases based on ignorance or prejudice.

11. Cultural issues, e.g. listening to the differences in pronunciation of different accent, rather than the content of the message.

12. Excessive and incessant talking or interrupting.

It is important that such barriers to listening are recognized and dealt with. With developing awareness, we can have more control over those barriers that are internal to ourselves, and can adopt and use more helpful listening behaviors.