Modes of Listening: Why, How and to What?

Abstract

This chapter presents a typology of the modes of listening employed across science, medicine, and engineering. It distinguishes between three purposes of listening and three ways of listening in the sciences. The three purposes discussed are diagnostic, monitory, and exploratory listening; the three ways are analytic, synthetic, and interactive listening. Using ample examples, this chapter illustrates the six modes of listening and the virtuoso mode-switching of scientists and other experts. It reflects on the incidence of specific combinations of purposes and ways of listening, and asks how these listening modes interact with the third dimension of listening: listening to what.