BARRIERS OF LISTENING

There is a famous proverb: Nature gave us two ears and only one
mouth so
we could listen twice as much as we speak. Good listening in
silence is essential to good conversation. But we are poor listener.
Most of us listen at only 25 percent efficiency. Following are some
reasons:
1. SELFISH BEHAVIOUR: The biggest problem in listening is that
we fail to focus on others. All of us desire to tell our ideas,
feelings, opinions, achievements and jokes. And we want to do so
at once without even waiting for the other person to stop. This
thing causes listening problem.
2. DISTURBANCE: Disturbance block the way of listening.
Disturbances may be external or internal. External disturbances
include noise, abnormal temperature, glaring light, background
music, poor dress of speaker, too many gestures etc.
Internal disturbances include daydreaming, nervous problems,
headache etc.
3. PREJUDICE: If you have good opinion about a person, you will
pay full attention to what
he says. But when you have certain prejudices against the speaker,
you will not like to listen to him or you will listen to him
carelessly. People so often see who is speaking. They forget what
is being said. As a result, they lose interest in the
spoken words because they do not like the speaker. Thus your
listening efficiency is affected.
4. THINKING SPEED: Most of us speak between 80 and 160
words a minute. Yet people can think at the rate of up to 800 words
per minute. That leaves time on the listeners hands. This lag time
may take listener away from the speaker.
5. HASTY GUESS: Very often we jump to the conclusions. We race
ahead to what we feel is the conclusion. We anticipate too much.
We arrive at the concluding thought quickly. Then we stop
listening.
6. HATED WORDS: We hate some people. In the same we hate
some words. Our attitude, biases, and feelings make us hate some
word. We turn out the speaker when he uses such words
repeatedly. This thing blocks the way of listening.
7. PRONUNCIATION: The way of delivering a message affects the
people. Poor delivery makes the people bored and uninterested.
The monotone can put listeners to sleep. Incorrect pronunciation
creates doubts about the qualification of the speaker.
8. SELECTIVE LISTENING: Another common fault in listening is
selective listening. When we listen selectively, we will listen only
what is of interest. The result in that we will not remember what
the speaker has said, instead, we will remember only what of
interest.