Sixth Grade
Worksheets
Three Ways to Listen
You know that you hear with your ears. When something makes a noise, it sends sound waves through the air. The waves hit your eardrum and make it vibrate. Your brain perceives this vibration as sound, and you hear the noise. Hearing is a passive activity. Your ears pick up the sounds around you and then send them to your brain.
Listening is an active process. You must choose to listen. Listening involves gaining meaning from the sounds you are hearing. You need to concentrate in order to listen. People participate in three basic types of listening.
We listen for enjoyment. Some sounds such as laughter and music make us happy. We don't need to pay close attention to each word or sound. The brain understands that the sound is something that makes us feel comfortable. We listen to the radio or television for enjoyment. Often these sounds are used as background noise to make us feel calm as we do other activities. This is the easiest level of listening.
