Much like the majority of personal experience, the approach to differentiating hearing and listening is entirely subjective to an individual. I have developed my sense of listening around the idea of focus, and hearing around simply noticing. Listening is the dissection and experience of falling into a piece of sound art, a song, an environment, or a film, while hearing is the simple awareness of a sound occurring.

In order for me to transcend from hearing to listening I must be aware of the environment that I construct in my head around the sound, and I must also give as much focus as I can to the piece I am listening to. This could be in public, in school, or in private. The style of listening I use changes alongside different genres and intensity levels, both in music and sound art, however, the approach is parallel between the two. In defining style of listening I differentiate passive listening from active listening. Passive listening for me is generally for things I am familiar with and have already heard, while active listening is the fresh analysis and exposure to a piece.

(A Reflective Surface I discovered in the Elephant and Castle Station).

Riding a specific line of the tube in London is a truly unique experience. From the Central Line, the Northern Line, the Piccadilly Line, the Bakerloo Line, Victoria Line, Jubilee Line, and the DLR, each are representative of different spaces, sounds, colours, and destinations.

The journey from Greenwich Station to Cutty Sark is especially sonically reflective for me because in most cases I forget to put on my headphones until the train reaches Island Gardens.

The rhythm of the tracks, the melody in the announcements and the ambience of the murmur that surrounds everyone are various aspects of the sonic environment that make up the DLR. Outside noise is also an important facet of the DLR, as the train is located above ground. I take this line every day, to get to school, visit friends, or run errands.

Until listening back to the audio I recorded on the stereo zoom portable recorder I did not realise the power of the audio in that journey. Listening to it triggered certain memories and gave me a sense of place and location as if I were physically on the train. The layering of the sounds is unique yet incredibly simple, which emphasises the power of arrangement and role in forming soundscapes and music.

Walking through the London College of Communication campus and constructing a mental map of it through sound was not something that presented itself as unfamiliar to me. The moment I listened and tried to separate myself from the space I was not transported into another realm of my imagination, however, I was still aimlessly walking around the LCC building. The gift of sound is just as powerful to me as the gift of sight, because our sense of space is a balance of both.

Beeps, alarms, footsteps, echoes, loud discussion, clandestine murmur, the restrained silence in the library, and the orchestrated clattering of silverware in the cafeteria all makeup for the soundscape of LCC. Included below is a small collection of two sounds gathered from that exercise in listening.

https://youtube.com/shorts/UgPXlugAS2k?feature=share