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Listening must be distinguished from audition. Audition is the function and exercise of the [[sense ]] of hearing, whereas listening is much more [[global]]. Listening is simultaneously [[being ]] sensitive to [[words]], the [[voice ]] that carries [[them]], and the broader context of [[human ]] [[communication]]. The [[relationship ]] that [[links ]] [[patient ]] and [[psychoanalyst ]] can be [[understood ]] as listening, each listening to the [[other]].

The psychoanalyst's relation with the patient is different from that of ordinary [[life]]. The psychoanalyst listens in [[silence ]] (silence is an opening into the [[unconscious]]), listens without according priority to the [[content ]] of the words, listens to the voice and the [[body ]] and the affects expressed through them. The [[analyst]]'s sensitivity to the effects of the voice is amplified by being in a [[state ]] of free-[[floating ]] attention, unaffected by the requirements of dialog, the [[need ]] to respond, the interplay of [[ideas]], and considerations of politeness. Intonation is a subtle vocal posture and expression, and tone creates a [[music ]] that influences the analyst's counter-transfer and warns the analyst against [[repression]]. Analytical listening is accompanied by a benevolent, receptive attitude that abstains from all critical evaluation and judgment. Such listening affords [[patients ]] a [[space ]] in which, free from [[visual ]] confrontation, they can deploy their [[imagination ]] in free [[association]]. The psychoanalyst's listening is the patient's [[guarantee ]] that the Other is [[present]], referring the patient back to the primordial Other and all its successive representations. By listening to what the patient says, the analyst becomes sensitive to the former [[child]], animated by the "[[instinct ]] to listen" (Bernard This, Piera Aulagnier) to the sounds of the [[primal ]] [[scene]], among other things.

For patients, the psychoanalyst's listening enables them first to hear a voice that refers them back to the benevolent voice of the first [[stages ]] of life and that they can progressively [[introject ]] while engaged in free-floating listening, and then to hear words enabling them to bring their histories to life by deploying their own unconscious forces. Patients have a special dialog with the analyst that requires reworking their energies in as [[complete ]] and free a way as possible. Listening to the analyst's words shatters [[thought ]] systems and promotes [[change]], the analyst's reflections being brief, incomplete, and ambiguous interventions rather than explanatory [[interpretations]]. The two types of listening thus promote the elaboration of a powerful synergy.

See also: [[Cathartic method]]; Evenly-[[suspended attention]]; Face-to-face [[situation]]; [[Fundamental rule]]; Initial inter-view(s); Music and [[psychoanalysis]]; [[Psychoanalytic ]] [[treatment]]; "Recommendations to Physicians Practicing [[Psycho]]-[[Analysis]]".