In my understanding, those of us who can hear are hearing all the time. Constantly, our minds are forming a sonic soundscape of our surroundings and our subconscious minds are paying attention to any threats or differences from the norm that may cause harm to our biological systems. At it’s base form, hearing is a protection system yet we all know that in most cases there is no need to fear and so hearing has other functions such as creating a bigger image of the space we currently reside in at any given time. It allows our conscious minds to make decisions reactive to our environment beyond our need for survival.

Listening on the other hand, means to pay attention to audio presented to oneself. Whether it is live in real-time physicality or reproduced, sounds are constantly communicating something to our subconscious, we also have a choice beyond our instincts to participate in the understanding of what is happening through our consciousness. What Pauline Oliveros refers to as Deep listening is nothing more than intently, with aimed focus, paying attention to what events are taking place in the sonic realm. 

We all hear conversations yet recalling them word for word exactly as they happened is a near impossible task for most people. Our minds have much more processing to do than remember every detail of what one another was having for breakfast over small talk, yet if we applied ourselves to actively listen to an instance such as this, a new depth of appreciation could be found in deep analysis of a simple interaction. Maybe the accent of an individual becomes remarkably pleasing to  the ears, the recalling of the story brings to light new information useful to the enrichment of our own lives, or perhaps the subjective impartiality to an individual’s lip smacking/licking between phrases causes disgust and refrain. Either way, deep listening’s approach of pin point and hyper focused constant analysis as events transcribe allow us to find new depth to our everyday hearing.

Personally, I have found my own mind starting to hear music and sonic creations rather than “listen” to them unless they really stand out or catch my attention. At this point in time, sound is at the complete forefront in nearly all aspects of my life all the time, and so it is as if the sonic lens of my mind has been set to auto focus, unless I am working an evening as a sound engineer or reviewing another’s work. The radio can become like cars passing by outside my flat, and a song or composition catches my attention like a shiny new Aston Martin or classic Rolls Royce. Yet at work, I am constantly double checking how things sound out of front of house speakers and adjusting EQ, compression, fader levels, etc. In truth, a sound engineer’s job is deep listening for the point of view of the consumer. There is a brief and it must be stuck to, this kind of listening is less about one’s own subjective taste but of the end product being the mass listener experience. At that moment it becomes priority over paying attention to the music itself. It has added depth to my sonic understanding and everyday experiences, yet as in all of life, things tend to balance out naturally, thus I have found comfort in hearing without listening too.