Audit, auditor. The root of this word is Latin (audio, I hear), and an audit was originally a hearing in which a judge listened to evidence and produced his judgement. When the financial sense developed, the checking of accounts was originally done orally. Nowadays I imagine auditors use computers in their inspection and approval of a company's financial statements, but I suspect a return to the oral tradition in quality management audits, more speaking and listening in the checking of processes and procedures in offices and workshops (I mean administrative and production areas).

Other words connected with listening are auditions, when theater or movie bosses listen to singers or actors hopeful of getting a part, and audience ("publikum"), a group of people who want to hear something. TV studio audiences on the other hand seem more interested in making noise.