Auditory learning

Auditory learning or auditory modality is one of three learning modalities originally proposed by Walter Burke Barbe and colleagues that characterizes a learner as depending on listening and speaking as a main way of processing and/or retaining information.

According to the theory, auditory learners must be able to hear what is being said to understand, and may have difficulty with instructions that are written or drawn. They also use their listening and repeating skills to sort through the information presented to them.

Although learning styles have "enormous popularity", and both children and adults express personal preferences, there is no evidence that identifying a student's learning style produces better outcomes. There is significant evidence that the widely touted "meshing hypothesis" (that a student will learn best if taught in a method deemed appropriate for the student's learning style) is invalid. Well-designed studies "flatly contradict the popular meshing hypothesis".