Barriers to effective listening.

how to improve your listening...or barriers to effective listening..

1. Presented by:=>
M.E 2A
ROLL NO: 18-21.

2. Effective listening is arguably one of the most important skills to have
nowadays. Personal relationships need effective listening skills to face
complicated issues together. Business people and employees need
effective listening skills to solve complex problems quickly and stay
competitive. Students and professors need it to understand complex
issues in their fields. Thus, it is beneficial if we can understand and
eliminate listening barriers that blocks deep, harmonious and lasting
relationships.

3. Barriers to listening take many forms. It is inevitable that barriers will exist in
any interaction, but anything which stops concentration, allowing the mind to
wander off the topic, must be recognized and overcome if fully successful
communication is to take place.

4. Environmental Barriers
The following, if encountered, can make us switch off from what is being said,
to allow our minds to temporarily concentrate on our surroundings:






1. The room too hot or too cold
2. The chair uncomfortable
3. The lighting too bright or too dim
4. Bad ventilation; stuffy/smoky atmosphere
7. Sights
5. Noise
6. Smells

5. Linguistic Barriers
Linguistic barriers derive from the speaker and make it difficult for them to be
listened to. They can be summarized as follows :

1. Jargon or specialist language
6. Complex sentences
7. Complex vocabulary
4. Hesitant manner
2. Monotonous
voice
3. Inappropriate
tone
5. Badly organized material
8. Delivery too fast
9. Delivery too slow and
ponderous
10. Delivery too loud
11. Delivery too quiet

6. Psychological Barriers
Emotional states which are brought to the communication or result from it can
come between what is being said and effective listening and understanding,
for example :

2. Own anxiety
3. Frustration, inability to
put across ideas
4. Status difference
1. Anger
5. Prejudice

7. Physiological Barriers
The physical condition of the listener can affect concentration and restrict
the amount of information taken in, for example :

1. Headache
3. Tiredness
5. Poor eyesight
2. Hearing
impairment
4. Discomfort, pain, illness

8. Perceptual Barriers
The speaker and the listener sometimes see the same situation from a
different point of view and this can affect understanding (e.g. parent and child).
Examples of other perceptual barriers are:
•Social/cultural background differences
•Attitude unexpected
•Expectations different
•Appearance of speaker
•Mannerisms
•Accents

9. Content Barrier
What the speaker is saying may also be a barrier to the listener:
1.Subject of the discussion does not interest us
2.Speaker goes on for too long
3.Speaker is saying what we don't want to hear
4.We have heard it all before
5.Content is too difficult/simplistic
6.Content is repetitious

10. Personal Barriers
The listener may put up personal barriers:
1.Preoccupied with own problems
2.Thinking about own response without
hearing speaker
4.Monopolizing the conversation, dominant
speaking
3.Looking for every opportunity to
interrupt

11. How can listening skills be improved?How can listening skills be improved?
We should practice concentrating. If we listen to a ten minute news
broadcast how much of it can we remember?
We should use spare thinking time more effectively and we should think
about what the speaker is saying and what the non verbal signals are telling
us.
We must practice mentally summarizing what the speaker is saying.
We must listen analytically.
Without interrupting, we should join in the conversation by asking for
clarification.
We should make encouraging noises to let the speaker know that you are
still interested.
We must maintain good eye contact. We must show in your posture that we
are interested in what is being said.