A perpetual confusion rages between the two often used verbs in English: Listen and Hear.
The other day my neighbour's 8-year-old daughter was excitedly describing an attempt to robbery in the apartment below theirs. Needless to say, it was an extraordinarily unique experience for her. She began: "Just before going to bed, I listened a noise and told Mom to look..." I instinctively corrected her with "You heard a noise, you mean?" She looked at me, baffled, not knowing how it mattered whether she said listened or heard... in effect they mean the same. Not wanting to curb her excitement, I just nodded my head and signalled her to continue. I would explain to her some other day.
But here is how it goes.
When you hear something, it is usually by chance, and you haven't been expecting it. For example, you hear a noise, you hear a piece of news or you hear the thunder. On the other hand, when you listen to something, you choose to pay attention. It is a conscious, deliberate effort at hearing. That's how we listen to a lecture, we listen to music/poetry etc. and we listen to the sound of rain, because we want to.
When you hear music playing in your neighbour's house, you may want to listen closely to see if you can recognize the singer or the genre. So when you listen, you understand, process the information you hear and remember it.
While referring to our favourite orator or singer, we use hear e.g. Have you heard Barrack Obama's victory speech? OR Have you heard the Backstreet Boys?
Observe that the verb 'listen' likes to tag a 'to' to it (mostly) e.g. listen to the story or listening to the song. Whereas, the verb hear likes to stand alone.
Listening is crucial for meaningful communication. So hey, hear me out when I say: "I have something to tell you!"
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