In 1953, after recording the city streets around her, and realising just how much she didn’t hear ‘live’ when listening back to the tape, Pauline Oliveros “gave herself a meditation:” “Listen to everything all the time and remind yourself when you are not listening”. Deep listening stems from this, not only to fully and consciously listen to what surrounds you, but also further this mentality into all areas of one’s life. 

The idea behind deep listening was first conceived in the Dan Harpole Cistern, where Oliveros and two other musicians had descended to experience the 45-second reverb and incredibly unique sound of the space. Oliveros, when reminiscing about the event said “We simply improvised, played and learned that the cistern was playing with us”. This ability to not only hear an environment, but be perceptive enough to properly interact with it and extract an incredible sound from it, is one of the many benefits of deep listening. 

In Oliveros’s book “Deep Listening: A Composer’s Sound Practice”, she shows how the mindset behind deep listening can also be effectively applied to all areas of life and health, such as breathing, “With awareness and practice we can breathe more deeply and this calms our mind and emotions”, Earlier Oliveros had stated that “unconsciousness sometimes leads to shallow breathing”, which of course is not healthy, and can exacerbate stress. Not only does deep listening allow one to fully experience music and the natural soundscape that one occupies, but also it has clear health benefits, and facilitates meditative behaviours.

Oliveros was a pioneer of deep listening for more than 50 years and started many workshops and taught deep listening using a variety of methods, while also enabling others to teach.

The quote “Are you listening to what you are hearing?” from her book “Deep Listening”, perfectly encapsulates what someone who wants to involve themselves with deep listening must start with: merely existing in life and letting auditory experiences wash over you is not enough, you must be fully aware and conscious of every detail of your environment, and only then can you truly appreciate the world around you

References: 
Deep Listening: A Composer’s Sound Practice – Pauline Oliveros
Deep Listening: A Composer’s Sound Practice – Lance Brunner
The difference between hearing and listening | TEDx – Pauline Oliveros