Blog 1 Hearing

There is no silence. Silence is an unattainable idea. The only way to achieve silence is to become deaf. And then we are only protected from physical sound. At no other point are we able to find silence. We live in a noisy face pasted world and I think one way humans adapt to sound is to just try and block it out. We almost become numb to it. Ignoring everything but the most relevant things in order to keep our sanity. But while this method is necessary it is also dangerous. Because we become very good at ignoring things, and if we are unable to distinguish a sound as important one we may lose an opportunity or suffer consequences for blocking it out.

Hearing in all its forms is important. It is a skill that can make or break us. It is essential for observing our surrounding as well as understanding them. Listening can be as physical and life threating as hearing a car and stepping out of the way. Or as complex as interrupting a lecture in a way that convinces you to go a new path in your life. In each example I just gave by hearing or not hearing may change the course of your life. Well the sounds around us can be this life changing they also might not be. They might just be worth ignoring. And part of becoming a good listener is distinguishing between the two. The three biggest take away I took from this chapter is that listing will effect what we comprehend and our perspective which is why its important to listen.

Hearing is one thing. But comprehending is a another. If we hear someone tell us something. We might hear it but we are unable to understand it. There is also other sounds as that person talks. Do we notice that the person talking to us has a stuffy nose as they talk? And do we comprehend what that means? Also what about the back ground noise, the siren in the back ground, the crying baby in the next door, crickets. Are we hearing all of this and also comprehending it. A perfect example of this is the YouTube video The Monkey Business Illusion. This video shows six people throwing a basket ball back and forth and then asks you to count the amount of times the people with the white shirt pass the ball. While they do this a monkey walks through them a person disappears and the current changes colors. Depending on how observant you were you might have missed or seen everything. You might have comprehended everything going on or just missed it.

But comprehension has a greater effect then just what we know. It also changes what we think about what we know. Because what we comprehend leads to our perspective. One of my favorite quotes from our in class text is Ingrid Monson who said “The conscious focusing of sensory attention that can yield different experiences of the same event.” (pg67) The monkey video is a good example of this. Those who are watching the ball very carefully will miss the monkey. But those watching the monkey closely will miss the curtain. No matter what you are looking for will change how you see it. If you try to talk to someone else about the experience it can lead to confusion because there was so much variety in your perception.

So last of all how do we hear? How do we comprehend what we are hearing. This is a difficult question not one that I think I have sufficient time or knowledge to answer. But another quote from the book that I felt had great significance when thinking about that issue was by Don Ihde who wrote “I do not merely hear with my ears, I hear with my whole body. My ears are at best the focal organs of hearing” perhaps one way to hear better and comprehend more is to hear more then just sound. Hear what are skin and eyes tell us. Hear what are heart and mind whisper. Hear in a more comprehensive way.

Silent may not be achievable, but is that not a good thing. Quite is good silence on the other hand might actually be bad. Because we would have no idea what is going on. Hearing is how we understand. Listening is comprehending. This first part of the semester has taught me a lot but what I have valued the most was the section on listing. I learned that how to listen and that listing will affect how we comprehend, which will effect how we will perceive.

P. (2010, April 28). The Monkey Business Illusion. Retrieved February 01, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY

Warren, J. T., & Fassett, D. L. (2015). Communication: a critical/cultural introduction. Los Angeles: Sage.