Socratic Listening

Listening - is it an art, skill, inherit talent or something else?  Engaged listening is even deeper and harder to do.  Because the human voice is slow, the listeners mind wanders - anticipates the next word, thought or prepares a volley in the tennis match of communication.

What happens when two "listeners" confront?   Sounds of Silence (by the way what is the sound of silence? - a song?)
The only way to get another listener to talk is with an interesting question - one that mandates something other than a yes or no.

At Accenture, we were trained heavily in the use of open ended questions in the interview queries with clients.  Add to that my favorite training from a East Coast firm (Communispond I think) called Socratic Selling. I was given all the tools to train myself in better more engaged listening - maybe even Socratic Listening.

The question is ...........   Tell me more about this term Socratic listening.