The answer is listening.
Interpreting involves understanding and making sense of information, which is a cognitive process that can occur during various activities, including listening, reading, and observing. However, it is not typically considered a primary communicative behavior that people spend the most time on compared to others like listening or speaking.
Thinking is a mental process that encompasses a wide range of cognitive activities, including problem-solving, decision-making, and daydreaming. While thinking is a constant activity, it is not specifically a communicative behavior in the same way that listening, speaking, or writing are.
Listening is a fundamental communicative behavior that involves actively receiving and processing auditory information. Research and communication studies often highlight that people spend a significant portion of their time listening, whether in conversations, lectures, or media consumption, more than they do speaking or writing.
Hearing is the physiological process of perceiving sound, which is passive and does not require active engagement or interpretation. While hearing is essential for listening, it is not a communicative behavior in itself, as it does not involve the active processing and understanding of information.