Barriers to Effective Listening

Humans are creatures of habit and the habits you have created over time determine your success. Old habits are difficult to break but through habit formation, you can build new behaviors, despite the difficulty encountered while trying to form them.

Common Barriers to Listening

The factors which act as impediments to effective listening and are considered as barriers to effective listening can be classified into the following:

1. Trying to listen to more than one conversation at a time
2. You find the communicator attractive/unattractive 
3.  You are not interested 
4. Not focusing 
5. Feeling unwell or tired
6. Identifying rather than empathizing 
7. Sympathizing rather than empathizing 
8. You are prejudiced or biased 
9. You have preconceived ideas or bias 
10. You make judgments
11. Previous experiences
12. Self-absorption
13. Having a Closed Mind 

Other Common Barriers to Listening

1. Physical Barriers

Noise, poor acoustics, malfunctioning of the mechanical devices being used, frequent interruptions, and uncomfortable seating arrangements are physical barriers that hamper effective listening. The first step of the listening process is hearing, and extraneous noise disturbs the hearing process.

Extraneous noise disturbs both the listener and the speaker. In case a device like a microphone or a telephone is being used, then the malfunctioning of the device will act as a hurdle or it may also result in the failure of transmission of the message from the speaker to the listener. Poor acoustics of the room or uncomfortable seating arrangements may make it difficult for the listener to concentrate on the speaker.

interruptions by other people or by the telephone while someone is speaking disturb the concentration of the listener, frustrate the speaker and make the listening process less effective. Message overload, which involves listening to a lot of information one after another, also makes it impossible to listen attentively after a certain point.

Thus, we can summarize the physical barriers to include:

•   Noise
•   Poor acoustics
•   Defective mechanical devices
•   Frequent interruptions
•   Uncomfortable seating arrangements and environment
•   Message overload

2. People-related Barriers

1. Physiological Barriers

Both the speaker and the listener influence the communication process. People-related barriers can be both physiological and psychological.

• State of Health

The physical condition of the individual affects the listening ability. Fever, pain, or any other form of bodily discomfort makes it difficult for an individual to listen attentively. Similarly, poor health conditions of a speaker reduce his ability to speak well and this, in turn, reduces the listening efficiency of the listener.

• Disability

Hearing is the first step of the listening process and, therefore, hearing deficiencies may lead to poor listening. Similarly, speech disorders of the speaker may make speech incoherent to the listener. At times the speaker’s accent, though not a disability, may make it difficult for the listener to comprehend. Similarly, when a speaker speaks very rapidly, it may also result in an unclear message reaching the listener.

• Wandering Attention

Research shows that the human mind can process words at the rate of about 500 per minute, whereas a speaker speaks at the rate of about 150 words per minute. The difference between the two is quite large-350 words per minute. This leaves the listener with sufficient time to let his mind wander. The listener has to be careful of this rather than let his mind wander. Spending the time concentrating on the message and analyzing it would improve listening.

2. Psychological Barriers

Psychological barriers relate to attitudinal and behavioral aspects. These include the following:

• Being Unsure of the Speaker’s Ability

Based on past experience or inputs from sources, the listener may have a preconceived notion of the speaker’s ability. He may perceive the speaker to not be well informed or to be lacking in depth and ability. This acts as a barrier to the listening process as the listener will not listen to what the speaker has to say.

• Personal Anxiety

Sometimes we are preoccupied with personal concerns and anxieties. This makes it difficult to perceive what is being said and thus acts as a barrier to effective listening.

• Attitude

Many times the attitude of the listener acts as a barrier to effective listening. The listener may be highly egocentric with a ‘know it all attitude’ and may not listen because he feels that he already knows what the listener has to say. A casual attitude on the part of the listener towards listening, assuming it can be done without much concentration and effort, also acts as a barrier to listening.

An overly critical attitude of the listener may shift the focus of listening from what is being said to noticing faults and errors in accent, delivery, the appearance of the speaker, grammar, and so on.

• Impatience

The listener may not have the patience to wait for the other person to finish what he has to say. He may be intolerant or may be eager to add his own points to the discussion. As a result, his desire to speak overcomes his desire to listen, thus acting as a barrier.