What’s the difference between casual listening and focused listening?

<p> If we listen with no particular purpose in mind| and often without much concentration| the kind of listening is called casual listening. Usually we do not listen very closely| unless we hear something that particularly interests us| and afterwards we may not remember much of what we heard. However if we listen for a particular purpose| to find information we need to know| the kind of listening is called focused listening. In these situations we listen much more closely; but we do not listen to everything we hear with equal concentration&mdash;we listen for the most important points or for particular information. Usually we know beforehand what we are listening for.</p>