All types of listening

There are many names for different types of listening. Here is a collection of types and the different names that get ascribed to them, along with a brief description of each.

Name	Description
Active listening	Listening in a way that demonstrates interest and encourages continued speaking.
Appreciative listening	Looking for ways to accept and appreciate the other person through what they say. Seeking opportunity to praise. Alternatively listening to something for pleasure, such as to music.
Attentive listening	Listening obviously and carefully, showing attention.
Biased listening	Listening through the filter of personal bias.
Casual listening	Listening without obviously showing attention. Actual attention may vary a lot.
Comprehension listening	Listening to understand. Seeking meaning (but little more).
Content listening	Listening to understand. Seeking meaning (but little more).
Critical listening	Listening in order to evaluate, criticize or otherwise pass judgment on what someone else says.
Deep listening	Seeking to understand the person, their personality and their real and unspoken meanings and motivators.
Dialogic listening	Finding meaning through conversational exchange, asking for clarity and testing understanding.
Discriminative listening	Listening for something specific but nothing else (eg. a baby crying).
Empathetic listening	Seeking to understand what the other person is feeling. Demonstrating this empathy.
Evaluative listening	Listening in order to evaluate, criticize or otherwise pass judgment on what someone else says.
False listening	Pretending to listen but actually spending more time thinking.
Full listening	Listening to understand. Seeking meaning.
High-integrity listening	Listening from a position of integrity and concern.
Inactive listening	Pretending to listen but actually spending more time thinking.
Informative listening	Listening to understand. Seeking meaning (but little more).
Initial listening	Listening at first then thinking about response and looking to interrupt.
Judgmental listening	Listening in order to evaluate, criticize or otherwise pass judgment on what someone else says.
Partial listening	Listening most of the time but also spending some time day-dreaming or thinking of a response.
Reflective listening	Listening, then reflecting back to the other person what they have said.
Relationship listening	Listening in order to support and develop a relationship with the other person.
Sympathetic listening	Listening with concern for the well-being of the other person.
Therapeutic listening	Seeking to understand what the other person is feeling. Demonstrating this empathy.
Total listening	Paying very close attention in active listening to what is said and the deeper meaning found through how it is said.
Whole-person listening	Seeking to understand the person, their personality and their real and unspoken meanings and motivators.

Many types of listening

See also