Character's listen through the filter of their Point of View

A lot of people talk about listening in terms of acting. And listening is very important. But no one listens to EVERYTHING.

But here's an example from an Autobiography of how people listen through a P.O.V. Like a filter on a lense, Barrowcliffe reveals how he saw something that wasn't there. Character's often listen this way.

I can only think that I had a highly developed ability to see only what I wanted to see.

I recently reread A Wizard of Earthsea and realized that I'd made an similar oversight in that, despite reading the book six times before, I'd been completely oblivious to the fact that the central character in that was dark skinned as well. The text clearly says so. My preferred mythology was Celtic, cold mountain tops, ancient magic drawn from stone circles, callow youths made old beyond their years by the knowledge that they had to bear, and pale ladies of the mist-filled glades. So that's what I imagined, ignoring Ursala K. Le Guin's explicit, inventive, clear description of a world based on a sort of early Mediterranean/African Culture.

I often think of this when I see people talking about how you "get through" to teenagers. I think the answer is: you can't. They are so immersed in a way that you can't even guess at. They're seeing things that you don't see and missing things that you feel are obvious. It's not far off from feeling enchanted.

- The Elfish Gene, Dungeons and Dragons and Growing up Strange, a memoir by Mark Barrowcliffe