Hace un par de días, el New York Times publicaba un artículo titulado «The Science and Art of Listening» sobre la diferencia entre oir y escuchar. El autor es Seth S. Horowitz, un neurocientífico especializado en el sistema auditivo que al parecer ha escrito un libro titulado The Universal Sense: How Hearing Shapes the Mind del que alguien ha dicho que es «una lectura obligada para cualquiera que tenga orejas».

Hearing, in short, is easy. You and every other vertebrate that hasn’t suffered some genetic, developmental or environmental accident have been doing it for hundreds of millions of years. It’s your life line, your alarm system, your way to escape danger and pass on your genes. But listening, really listening, is hard when potential distractions are leaping into your ears every fifty-thousandth of a second — and pathways in your brain are just waiting to interrupt your focus to warn you of any potential dangers.

Artículo completo en The New York Times