In a presentation at the Society for Music Theory 2002 Conference, 2002, David Huron proposed 21 listening modes:

  1. Distracted listening
  2. Tangential listening
  3. Metaphysical listening
  4. Signal listening
  5. Sing-along listening
  6. Lyric listening
  7. Programmatic listening
  8. Allusive listening
  9. Reminiscent listening
  10. Identity listening
  11. Retentive listening
  12. Fault listening
  13. Feature listening
  14. Innovation listening
  15. Memory scan listening
  16. Directed listening
  17. Distance listening
  18. Ecstatic listening
  19. Emotional listening
  20. Kinesthetic listening
  21. Performance listening

and he concludes: “This list is not intended to be exhaustive.”