Question

Carl was placed on hold when he telephoned his cable company, at which point, music began to play. A couple of minutes into the hold time, he decided to jot down a list of snacks he wanted to buy from the store. Carl was using
________ listening while he waited on the phone.

limited
engaged
incidental
passive

Answer 1

He used passive listening

Answer 2

Passive

Carl was using passive listening because while he could hear the music on the phone, he was not entirely engaged in it as he was also jotting down a list, so therefore he couldn’t fully process the music.