Are you hearing, listening, or both?

In The Zen of Listening, the idea of listening and hearing is discussed. It says, "We can passively hear, but we must actively listen." This concept is something that I find to be so important. Its like when you are having a conversation with someone. You can passively hear what they are saying and know what words they are forming, how they are stringing them together, and what those equal. However, to actively listen, one must be able to understand the words, understand what together they mean, AND THEN to understand the context and understand what the other person is trying to entirely communicate.

Radio is a form of audible transmission that people have loved for years!! It has a nostalgic hold on people, whether you are tuning in for talk radio (like NPR) or just some good tunes. While listening to radio, as consumers, we are constantly switching back and forth between hearing and listening. We are hearing when we just hear the different sounds, instruments, and words of a song. We are listening when we hear what the combination of all those things is trying to convey to us as a listener.