Tip #3: Listen when you listen and when you speak.
What? How are ears part of talking, you might ask? Well, our ears are not just part of talking but instead are part of the bigger picture of communicating. We use our ears to listen to ourselves as we speak, and to listen to the person speaking to us.
How do we do that in the most effective way? If you are listening to a speaker, think about how you are positioned to them. Sit so you are facing them, or sit so that your back is not turned to them. This allows you to get the full benefit of the sound of the message coming from them.
Sound travels from the speaker’s mouth to your ears. How loud that sound is depends upon a few things: how loud the speaker is talking, ambient noise in the environment, and the condition of the listeners’ hearing.
If you are hard of hearing, and some of us are, it is incumbent upon us to control our listening environment as much as we can. Sit in close proximity to whomever you are communicating with. Use a headset if communicating online. Wear your hearing aids. Try to keep the environment distraction free.
Learn to be an active listener. Ask questions, summarize, check your comprehension to see if you got everything, even jot down a note or two. That’s how we use our ears when we are the listener.
But what about when we are the speaker? Are we really using our ears to talk? Yes, in a way. Without realizing it, good communicators listen to themselves as they speak and make adjustments as they go. Maybe they adjust the loudness level at which they are speaking. Maybe they adjust the rate at which they are talking and add in a few more pauses. They might even tweak their pitch to add emphasis to their meaning.
When a speaker is trying to implement new techniques, like pronouncing a vowel in a different way, the ears are very important. It’s through our ears that we are able to hear differences, like the old and new ways to say certain sounds. This helps us make judgments of accuracy for how we are doing with a new speaking skill. It also helps us to make judgments of our own clarity and whether others are understanding our message.
The ears are critical for effective communication. The next time you are trying to make a point, change the way you say something or are listening to a lecture, consider how important your ears are in that process.
Tip #3: Listen when you listen and when you speak.
What? How are ears part of talking you might ask? Well, our ears are not just part of talking but instead are part of the bigger picture of communicating. We use our ears to listen to ourselves as we speak, and to listen to the person speaking to us.
How do we do that in the most effective way? If you are listening to a speaker, think about how you are positioned to them. Sit so you are facing them, or sit so that your back is not turned to them. This allows you to get the full benefit of the sound of the message coming from them. Sound travels from the speaker’s mouth to your ears. How loud that sound is depends upon a few things: how loud the speaker is talking, ambient noise in the environment, and the condition of the listeners’ hearing.
If you are hard of hearing, and some of us are, it is incumbent upon us to control our listening environment as much as we can. Sit in close proximity to whomever you are communicating with. Use a headset if communicating online. Wear your hearing aids. Try to keep the environment distraction free.
Learn to be an active listener. Ask questions, summarize, check your comprehension to see if you got everything, even jot down a note or two. That’s how we use our ears when we are the listener.
But what about when we are the speaker? Are we really using our ears to talk? Yes, in a way. Without realizing it, good communicators listen to themselves as they speak and make adjustments as they go. Maybe they adjust the loudness level at which they are speaking. Maybe they adjust the rate at which they are talking and add in a few more pauses. They might even tweak their pitch to add emphasis to their meaning.
When a speaker is trying to implement new techniques, like pronouncing a vowel in a different way, the ears are very important. It’s through our ears that we are able to hear differences, like the old and new ways to say certain sounds. This helps us make judgments of accuracy for how we are doing with a new speaking skill. It also helps us to make judgments of our own clarity and whether others are understanding our message. The ears are critical for effective communication.