Member Article

Active Listening has a positive impact on your life

In today’s fast-paced lifestyle and ever-changing sonic environment, much of what people hear is more noise than it is sound: appliances, machines, traffic, construction, sirens. According to the European Union, ambient city noise is responsible for lowering the quality of life of 25 percent of those living in Europe. This isn’t a problem that is limited to Europe, it is a worldwide one. As a result of constant background noise in an environment, are people losing the ability to listen?

While many would consider listening to be an automatic process, it is much more than that, it can actually be learned, honed and mastered. In modern life where stress has become an epidemic, anxiety and depression are rife, technology that has unprecedented ability to connect people seems to not be working with people feeling less connected to others and less connected to their inner selves. Perhaps the solution can be found in music?

One way in which people are able to connect is through listening, more specifically listening to music. Audio specialists, HARMAN has carried out a study on the benefits of listening to music and what this tells us about contemporary listening habits. HARMAN distinguishes the difference, as established earlier, between active listening and automatic listening, both of which have different effects on the individual. Active listening is shown to ‘centre us in the moment, enhances our connections with others, and enables us to appreciate what we hear’, according to Michael Mauser, President, Lifestyle Audio at HARMAN.

Changes in the way we listen

One of the most obvious ways people actively listen is when they are physically listening to music. According to HARMAN, 70 percent of listeners across the US, the UK, France, and Germany said they listen to music on a daily basis. However, the way in which they listen to music has changed. Instead of the traditional method of listening to a whole album all the way through, almost 70 percent said they would pick and choose tracks, an impatient “snacking” approach. A reflection of the modern listener, who is short on time, always on the move and multi-tasking.

More choice but less listening

With the advances made in technology, music has never been so accessible, with people being able to stream hundreds of thousands of songs through their smartphones or computers. Although, this increase in availability has not necessarily resulted in people listening to music for longer, 40 percent of respondents said that they use to spend more time listening to music then they do now, and 66 percent say they have a desire to listen to more and are planning to dedicate more time to actively listening to music in the next year.

Active listening has a range of benefits

Those who make a conscious effort to listen were rewarded with physiological, psychological and cognitive benefits, 65 percent said it makes them feel happy, 70 percent agreed that it strengthens social bonds by relaxing the atmosphere when socialising. Also, as previously mentioned, in an era where people are feeling less connected to others and themselves, music presents the possibility to close this gap; 62 percent said that music helps them connect with themselves; and 50 percent that it helps them connect with their family.

Finally, next time you find yourself listening to music, make it a conscious effort, and if done through a clear and authentic sound system the benefits should be noticeable. Whether its improving your mood, or bringing you closer to others, the study carried out by HARMAN has proven that actively listening to music holds the ability to make a positive impact on your life.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by HARMAN .