{"id":20295,"date":"2025-06-02T11:10:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T09:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/?p=20295"},"modified":"2025-06-02T11:10:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T09:10:17","slug":"beyond-ting-bu-dong-part-7-how-to-navigate-different-types-of-listening-in-mandarin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/beyond-ting-bu-dong-part-7-how-to-navigate-different-types-of-listening-in-mandarin\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond t\u012bng bu d\u01d2ng, part 7: How to navigate different types of listening in Mandarin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-20296\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/two-way-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/two-way-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/two-way-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/two-way-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/two-way-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/two-way.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Listening is an essential skill in language learning, but not all listening situations are the same. By recognising different types of listening situations and understanding what each requires, you can improve your chances of successfully navigating spoken Mandarin.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Listening in two directions<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To begin with, we can split listening into two types based on which way information flows:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>One-way listening:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> You listen without influencing what is being said. You might still have some control over how you engage with the material, but you do not take part in the spoken interaction itself.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Two-way listening:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> You listen and participate in the conversation. In addition to understanding what is being said, you are also required to contribute information, thoughts or opinions yourself.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At first glance, it would seem like two-way listening is strictly more challenging than one-way listening, and this is often the case, but not always.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, when you are in the conversation yourself, it is more likely that the other participants take this into consideration. They might, among other things, slow down their rate of speech, choose words they think you will understand and generally not just assume you know lots of things that you do not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Tune in to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/podcast\/\">the Hacking Chinese Podcast<\/a> to listen to the related episode (#252):<br \/>\n<\/em><iframe src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/0SwU46lheeLsepvjhregSs?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border-radius:12px;\" allowfullscreen loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe>\n<em>Available on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/hacking-chinese-podcast\/id1536284827\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/5iCRv1jg3j3yJZGJlYVYaO\">Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/3_iW8fC_fSI\">YouTube<\/a>\u00a0and many other platforms!<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Beyond t\u012bng bu d\u01d2ng: A guide to Chinese listening comprehension<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-20297 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tingbudong-7-1024x744.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"744\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tingbudong-7-1024x744.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tingbudong-7-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tingbudong-7-768x558.png 768w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tingbudong-7-1536x1116.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tingbudong-7.png 1721w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This article is part of a series where we go beyond merely noting that we don\u2019t understand something (t\u012bng bu d\u01d2ng) to analyse why we don\u2019t understand and by extension what we can do about it. While it\u2019s recommended that you read or listen to the earlier articles before reading this one, I will refer to earlier articles when relevant. Here\u2019s a list of the articles I\u2019ve planned for this series. Article titles without links have not been published yet!<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><ol>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/beyond-ting-bu-dong-part-1-a-guide-to-chinese-listening-comprehension\/\">A guide to Chinese listening comprehension<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/beyond-ting-bu-dong-part-2-from-sound-to-meaning-in-mandarin\">From sound to meaning in Mandarin<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/beyond-ting-bu-dong-part-3-using-what-you-already-know-to-aid-listening-comprehension-in-chinese\/\">Using what you already know to aid listening comprehension in Chinese<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/beyond-ting-bu-dong-part-4-learning-to-process-spoken-mandarin-quickly-and-effortlessly\/\">Learning to process spoken Mandarin quickly and effortlessly<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/beyond-ting-bu-dong-part-5-becoming-a-better-listener-as-a-student-of-chinese\/\">Becoming a better listener as a student of Chinese<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/why-is-listening-in-chinese-so-hard\/\"><strong>Why is listening in Chinese so hard?<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/beyond-ting-bu-dong-part-7-how-to-navigate-different-types-of-listening-in-mandarin\/\"><strong>How to navigate different types of listening in Mandarin<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Building an arsenal of Chinese listening strategies for every situation<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The best listening exercises to improve your Chinese<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>One-way listening: less active but still demanding<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When engaged in one-way listening, such as<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/the-best-podcasts-for-learning-chinese\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">listening to a podcast<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, overhearing a conversation on public transport or<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/the-best-youtube-channels-for-learning-chinese\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">watching a YouTube video in Chinese<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, you can focus completely on comprehension.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This feels safer because your understanding is typically not probed outside of test-taking, and it is also more convenient because you can rely on recorded material. This also enables you to use tools that can be tricky to apply in two-way listening, such as adjusting the rate of speech, adding subtitles, or<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/listen-more-than-once-how-the-replay-button-can-help-you-learn-more-chinese\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">simply hitting the replay button to listen again<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"wyxYbYVWkG\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/listen-more-than-once-how-the-replay-button-can-help-you-learn-more-chinese\/\">Listen more than once: How the replay button can help you learn more Chinese<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Listen more than once: How the replay button can help you learn more Chinese&#8221; &#8212; Hacking Chinese\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/listen-more-than-once-how-the-replay-button-can-help-you-learn-more-chinese\/embed\/#?secret=ijdccKEktz#?secret=wyxYbYVWkG\" data-secret=\"wyxYbYVWkG\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the other hand, not being able to directly participate normally also means that you cannot affect what other people say or how they say it. In fact, in most cases, you are not part of the target audience (authentic content aimed at native speakers, more about this later), or when you are, this is in a general sense, such as when listening to something aimed at learners, albeit not you specifically.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As we have seen throughout this series, it would be wrong to say that one-way listening is \u201cpassive\u201d, but it\u2019s less active in the sense that you\u2019re not required to output language yourself. Listening comprehension is always an active process.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Spontaneous vs. scripted content<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What one-way listening feels like and how hard it is is closely related to how it was produced. More specifically, it matters how well-planned it is. Let us explore a spectrum between spontaneous speech (no planning at all) and text read aloud (fully planned).<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Spontaneous speech<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (e.g., casual conversations) contains pauses, fillers, self-corrections and redundancies, making it lower in information density and easier to process. However, the fact that it is not planned can make it harder to follow. Speakers also often omit details when talking to someone familiar, unlike when addressing a general audience.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Planned speech<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (e.g., interviews) is less spontaneous when it comes to what is being said. During an interview, both parties probably know roughly what they are going to talk about, making the structure easier to follow. Unless rehearsed, though, which words are used and how is still improvised on the spot.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Speech with written support<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (e.g. presentations) is one step closer to being scripted in that the speaker has written some things down, but typically only keywords. This is how most presentations are done in the real world and<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/podcast\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">it is how I record my podcast<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. If you have access to speaker notes or related visual support in the form of a digital presentation, this can greatly increase comprehension.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Scripted content<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (e.g., movies) is meant to sound spontaneous but is not. Movie dialogues, for example, are meant to sound like real dialogues. The same is true for the dialogues in your textbook. It is worth noting that this type of content typically does not resemble spontaneous speech. If you have ever seen the transcript of a normal conversation, you know what I mean, but if you have not, you are probably vastly overestimating how structured you sound when having a conversation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Written Chinese read aloud<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (e.g. news) is by far the hardest type of one-way listening. Since the content is primarily written, not spoken, the information density is sky-high compared to everything else mentioned here. No unnecessary repetition, no pauses, no redundancies. As discussed in part six of this series, if it is formal Chinese, information density is even higher, making news in Chinese much harder than in most other languages.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a student, being aware of the type of one-way listening you are engaging in can help you understand why you are struggling with some content and not other content.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, you probably cannot change the type of content in a specific case, but you can make sure you choose listening materials that match your proficiency level. The more advanced your Chinese is, however,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/listening-strategies-diversify-your-listening-practice\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the more you should diversify and make sure you do not only listen to one type of content<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. While it is highly recommended to stay away from audiobooks as a beginner,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/learning-chinese-through-audio-books\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">they are an excellent form of listening practice for more advanced students<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Two-way listening: Interactive conversations<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two-way listening is different from one-way listening because you not only need to understand what&#8217;s being said, you also need to participate yourself and negotiate meaning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The speaking side of conversations is beyond the scope of this article, but it goes without saying that you have less processing power left for listening if you also have to think about what you&#8217;re supposed to say next.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Negotiation of meaning is when speakers clarify misunderstandings and adjust their language to ensure communication. This includes rephrasing, asking for clarification, using gestures, or modifying speech to suit the listener.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All this is both cognitively and socially demanding.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/learning-chinese-as-an-introverted-student\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Depending on your personality, it can be outright scary<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which makes listening even harder. The most popular concept describing this phenomenon is probably Stephen Krashen&#8217;s Affective Filter Hypothesis, which strives to explain how emotions and anxiety can affect language learning.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"hHUw2qWfdk\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/learning-chinese-as-an-introverted-student\/\">8 tips for learning Chinese as an introverted student<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;8 tips for learning Chinese as an introverted student&#8221; &#8212; Hacking Chinese\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/learning-chinese-as-an-introverted-student\/embed\/#?secret=JBOvljrUOg#?secret=hHUw2qWfdk\" data-secret=\"hHUw2qWfdk\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Generally speaking, the more people participate in the conversation, the harder it is. One of the hardest listening situations of all is being part of a large-ish group of native speakers talking among themselves, so don&#8217;t be discouraged if you find this hard. In such a setting, no one will adapt their language to your level and speakers will take many things for granted that you don&#8217;t know.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a beginner or intermediate student, one-on-one conversations are the best, so let&#8217;s talk more about those!<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Why you should start with one-on-one conversations<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among all types of listening, one-on-one conversations are the most beneficial for language learners. This is true in general, but it&#8217;s particularly true for beginners.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are several advantages to one-on-one conversations:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>There is a shared purpose and mutual understanding:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> You are both in the same conversation and in the same context. You both know who the other person is and can adapt what and how you say to that. You share the goal of exchanging information or perhaps entertaining each other.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>You can ask for clarification and negotiate meaning:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> While this is possible in conversation with more than two participants, it&#8217;s socially more awkward to do this often if this impacts several people who might not need the clarification you&#8217;re asking for. This could be awkward in one-on-one conversations if done too often as well, but less so.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>There is less variation in speakers and topics:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In a group of two, you&#8217;re an active part in every possible interaction, but that&#8217;s not true for groups of three or more. Following other people talking to each other is much harder than following when someone is speaking with you specifically.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Your conversation partner can adapt to your level appropriately:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 As all teachers know, doing this in a group of students on different levels is hard, but in a one-on-one conversation, this is not a problem.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You have several options for finding conversation partners. If you&#8217;re the extroverted kind and happen to live where there are native speakers of Chinese around, you can just talk to them. Some will not be interested in talking with you, others will.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/the-virtues-of-language-exchanges\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">find a language exchange partner<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and agree to spend a certain amount of time speaking each other&#8217;s language.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Better still, if you have the money, hire a professional tutor and talk with them. They are not guaranteed to be perfect conversational partners, but if you make it clear what you&#8217;re after, they&#8217;re more likely to be able to help you than anybody else.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Different types of listening bring different challenges<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I hope it&#8217;s clear by now that &#8220;listening&#8221; is not a singular activity with fixed parameters. Instead, there are many types of listening with their own characteristics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Merely being aware of this can help you in several ways.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First, it allows you to adjust the difficulty. Typically, you mostly want to listen to things you can make sense of (see<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/the-input-pyramid-chinese-listening-for-any-situation\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Input Pyramid: Chinese Listening for Any Situation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for more about this).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sbl2amnxsHQ?si=eXCmnNSqmFw0T35E\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are group conversations too hard? Try one-on-one sessions instead!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you find written Chinese read aloud too hard? Try more spontaneous speech instead!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Second, knowing about different types of listening can help you analyse your current listening ability. This whole series is about not being content with simply saying t\u012bng bu d\u01d2ng and giving up. Instead, we want to understand why we don&#8217;t understand, and knowing how different types of listening work is crucial for that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you want more guidance when it comes to how to listen and what to listen to, including a structured resource library suitable for any level, along with strategies for Chinese immersion on your terms, check out my course<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/courses\/the-fluent-listener-navigating-mandarin-like-a-fish-in-water\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Fluent Listener: Navigating Spoken Mandarin Like a Fish in Water<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/courses\/the-fluent-listener-navigating-mandarin-like-a-fish-in-water\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-19771 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Fluent-Listener_Logo-Transparent-1024x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"610\" height=\"179\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Fluent-Listener_Logo-Transparent-1024x300.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Fluent-Listener_Logo-Transparent-300x88.png 300w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Fluent-Listener_Logo-Transparent-768x225.png 768w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Fluent-Listener_Logo-Transparent-1536x450.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Fluent-Listener_Logo-Transparent.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listening is an essential skill in language learning, but not all listening situations are the same. By recognising different types of listening situations and understanding what each requires, you can improve your chances of successfully navigating spoken Mandarin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,9,10,14,15],"tags":[1193,139,1460,1463,1462,1100,1461],"class_list":["post-20295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advanced","category-beginner","category-immersion-and-integration","category-intermediate","category-learning-outside-class","category-listening","tag-beyond-ting-bu-dong","tag-comprehensible-input","tag-conversations","tag-one-on-one-conversations","tag-one-way-listening","tag-podcast-episode","tag-two-way-listening"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Beyond t\u012bng bu d\u01d2ng, part 7: How to navigate different types of listening in Mandarin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Listening is an essential skill in language learning, but not all listening situations are the same. 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