I have commented before on just how much you hear when you concentrate on listening. You start to hear things which were previously just background noise.

I ate lunch today in a cafe, rain pouring down outside. I didn't have a book with me as I usually do. Instead I spent five minutes listening to the sounds of the cafe and its surroundings.

A Newcastle Cafe
1:35pm, Wednesday 15th June 2011

• Rain hitting the pavement outside
• A refrigerator running
• Chatter in the cafe
• A squeaking oven door
• Coffee machine warming up
• Cash register
• Coffee grinding
• Cars outside
• Rustling of a paper bag
• Metal tongs being put down
• Change being taken from the cash register
  
• Closing of the cash register
• Music on the radio
• Frothing milk
• Heels on the concrete floor
• Car tyres on the wet road
• A truck driving past
• My own breathing
• A drawer closing
• Waitress saying "That's $2 thanks"
• Coins hitting each other
• Plates hitting a table
• Plates hitting each other
• A spoon being taken from a drawer
• A spoon being placed on a saucer
• A saucer with a spoon and cup placed on a table
• A fryer / grill cooking
• Refrigerator door closing

1:40pm - end of my note-taking on what I heard.

It’s an interesting experiment. How many sounds can you hear right now? At first you may only recognize of a couple. The obvious sounds. But if you focus on listening you will likely hear many individual sounds around you, which were previously being filtered out of your awareness.

Right now I’m sitting in a park. I can hear breeze in the leaves, a person turning pages at a bench nearby, people talking, cars on a nearby road, birds, an air conditioner on a building close by, a car door closing, wind passing my ears, my jacket as I type, my own breathing… and that’s in a quiet spot.

What are you hearing now? And what do you hear when you listen, that was there but never heard before?