Recently I watched an excellent workshop by sound consultant Julian Treasure. At the end, he spoke about 5 things you can do to improve your listening skills.

The 5 things you can do put in writing:

1) Silence: For at least three minutes a day, try to find a place of complete silence (if not possible, at least aim for very quiet). It helps to recalibrate your ears, so that you can actually hear the quieter things once again.

2) Mixer: In a noisy environment, practice focusing your ears on one sound, then another (like the mixing board of a sound system); It will improve the quality of your listening.

3) Savouring: There’s a “hidden choir” all around you; focusing on such mundane sounds as the dish washer or a babbling stream can reveal rhythms and build an appreciation for the simpler things in life.

4) Listening Positions: This is the idea that you can shift your position (or “level” of listening) according to what you’re listening to: active/passive, reductive/expansive, critical/empathetic. These adjust certain filters that we all have, such as culture, language, values, beliefs, attitudes, expectations and intentions, which increasingly focus our listening from all “sounds” down to things we specifically listen to.

5) RASA: An acronym for Receive (i.e. paying attention to the person), Appreciate (giving verbal feedback such as small sounds of agreement or interest), Summarize (feedback of what you’ve understood), and Ask (ask questions afterward). Practicing RASA will improve not only how we listen, but our retention of information.