This term was introduced by Denis Smalley to describe a listening mode amongst those with expertise in electroacoustic techniques. It is rooted in an aesthetic orientation that technology should ideally have a transparency in electroacoustic music making and listening. Implicit in the term is the danger that composers and musicians become divorced from the musical experiences of non-experts. The more informal term recipe listening is sometimes used.
Technological listening occurs when a listener 'perceives' the technology or technique behind the music rather than the music itself, perhaps to such an extent that true musical meaning is blocked. (Source - Denis Smalley (1997). Spectromorphology: Explaining Sound-shapes. Organised Sound Vol. 2, No. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.)