Difference Between Active Listening and Passive Listening

Effective listening skills are absolutely essential for good communication. There are two kinds of listeners: passive and active. While both types of listening form an important part of communication, active listening promotes better relational outcomes. This blog will uncover the major difference between active and passive listening.

Tabular Comparison - Active Listening vs Passive Listening

The critical difference between active and passive listening is that active listening is a more involved and interactive approach that fosters better communication and understanding, while passive listening is a more passive and one-sided way of receiving information. Active listening is like being an active participant in a game, while passive listening is like watching from the sidelines.

This video can help you understand the difference between active and passive listening in quite an interesting manner.

Source - English Arcade (YouTube)

What is Active Listening?

Active listening is when the listener listens carefully to what the speaker says, processes the message, and then responds to the message to take the conversation further. The listener goes through all the stages of listening.

Active listening involves paying full attention to the speaker, showing interest in their words through expressions and body language, and asking questions at appropriate intervals to have a good conversation.

Both verbal and non-verbal participation play an important role in active listening, where verbal participation involves repeating lines or summarising a spoken topic, offering suggestions or disagreeing with ideas, and asking appropriate questions. In contrast, non-verbal participation includes nodding your head and making eye contact.

Who is an Active Listener?

An active listener is a person who actively participates in the communication process by listening carefully to the message and observing how the information is taken in. The active listener pays attention to the content and style in tone, tone, body language, facial expressions and any expressions made by the speaker.

An active listener often looks for many details, nods his head as a sign of understanding at different times, asks questions to help him understand the topic, and summarises the content to show that he is a good follower.

What is Passive Listening?

Passive listening means listening to the speaker as he communicates without paying attention or awareness while sitting silently without expressing or speaking, as the listener does not interrupt or participate in the conversation.

This means that the listener is physically present but may ignore the speaker's words because the listeners do not understand the topic and may be unable to remember it in the future. There are several reasons for passive listening, including:

• Lack of interest
• Mental or physical fatigue
• Distractions
• Lack of confidence
• Information overload
• Habitual behavior
• Multitasking 
• Neglecting 
• Has a health issue

In passive listening, the listener hears only the words and not the purpose of the speech. This often leads to a misunderstanding between the speaker and the listener, as the speaker believes that the listener has accurately understood the message. Such a scenario is quite probable when students listen to a lecture or seminar on a topic, and usually, almost half of the present students are listening passively.

Who is a Passive Listener?

The passive listener hears the message in part, and there is also an absence of sensitivity to the nuances, hidden meanings and non-verbal commitments involved in communication.

Basically, a passive listener allows the other person to speak without interruption or clarification, making communication with the passive listener ineffective and incomplete.

Difference Between Active Listening and Passive Listening

Active listening: Non-Verbal Signals Are There 

When someone is actively listening, they use non-verbal cues to show their interest in what is being said. They may nod, lean, make eye contact, or exhibit facial expressions in response to the conversation. This encourages the speaker to continue speaking and helps them feel as if the listener is interested.

Passive listening: No Non-Verbal Cues

A passive listener provides little to no non-verbal feedback to demonstrate that he or she is invested in what is being said. The message the speaker receives is that the listener is listening to them but is not really interested.

Active listening: Total Focus

An active listener is totally focused on what the speaker is saying. In addition to ceasing all distracting physical activities, they have suspended irrelevant mental activity and are truly engaged in what the person is saying. As the conversation progresses, active listening carefully analyses and digests what listeners hear.

Passive Listening: Only Action is Focused

When someone listens passively, they may appear superficially focused on what the speaker is saying, but their mind is elsewhere. Instead of trying to understand what was being said, he simply listened without giving it additional thought.  

Active listening: Provide Feedback

During active listening, feedback and stimulation are provided to the speaker. An active listener may say something like, "That must have been terrible", or "Would you mind telling me more about that?" Validate the speaker and summarise what was said. The conversation will soon follow.

Passive listening: Absorbing No Information

A passive listener provides no information to the speaker. After the speaker finishes speaking, they can respond with a curt "OK" or "I understand." Passive listeners do not validate the speaker, reiterate what was said, or encourage the speaker to continue speaking.