OBSTACLES/BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING

Listening is an important aid to communication. Listening with understanding is not merely hearing with ears but really in the mind. It is a conscious effort by the receiver to perceive and understand the message, give meaning to those sounds and words uttered. However, there are several barriers to listen effectively. Some of them can be studied as follows-

1) Marginal Listening- Listening is faster than speaking. Listening is three times faster than speaking. The difference between speaking speed and listening speed gives extra time to a listener, while the speaker speaks. This extra time results in diverting the attention from the message communicated, and thus listeners may not pay attention once they get distracted.

2) Noise- Noise is one of the main obstacles to effective listening. Noise can be in the environment such as traffic noise or in the means used by the speaker such as sound system.

3) Dislike of the Speaker- The listener may develop a dislike for the speaker. This may be due to physical appearance of the speaker, his body language, his pronunciations, his views, etc. Such dislike develops a negative attitude towards the speaker, and the listener may not accept or pay attention to what the speaker says.

4) Preconceived Notions- There may be preconceived notions about the subject or topic being discussed. The listener may consider the topic to be meaningless or boring or too difficult or too easy. In such a case, the listener may not pay attention to what the speaker speaks.

5) Intellectual Listening- There are intellectual speakers who make mental notes most of the time. They keep their eyes closed while doing so. As such, they miss many of the finer shades of meaning and sentiments that go with the speaker’s body language-facial expressions, gestures, etc.

6) Fake Listening- Some persons may make believe the speaker that they are very much interested in the talk, they may put up a satisfied expression on their face, but in fact they may not be paying any attention to what the speaker says.

7) Emotional Disturbance- Emotional disturbance on the part of the listener can be obstacle to effective listening. If listener is angry or upset, he may not pay attention to what is being said by the speaker. Too much excitement of listener may also make him ignore the speaker.

8) Poor Health- Poor state of health reduces listening efficiency. It makes a person irritable, impatient, inattentive and unable to concentrate. If a listener has fever, he may just do hearing not listening.

9) Planning a Reply- Sometimes, listener goes on panning his response or query to the speaker when speaking is going one. In this planning listener may not concentrate further as he is busy in framing his reply. 

10) Language Barrier- Language also becomes a barrier in listening. Sometimes, the speaker may not have a great command over a language. So, the listeners may not understand what the speaker speaks. Other times, the listener may not be fluent in the language being used by the speaker.