Does passive listening improve your English?

Passive listening or background music is one of the most effortless ways that lots of English learners try to improve their English on their spare time. But, do you think it really helps you understand English better at all?

One day, somebody told me (maybe on YouTube) that you will be able to listen to and comprehend the English of native speakers just by listening to English as background for three months. I've even heard that doing it while you sleep would work too. 

At that time, I was desperate to improve my English, so there was no way that I won't give it a shot. So I've done the listening exercise I'm not even sure if I can call this "exercise" though… because all you do is just press a play button, and you do something else. 

I think I've kept doing it at least for six months. I've listened to news, TED talk radio or my favorite YouTube while I get ready for college, cook for myself, and even sleep as they said. 

What I've found out after the trial was listening unconsciously would never work. I won't say listening to English while you commute is a waste of time at all, but there's some tips for making it work. 

First, you always need to listen to comprehensible English for you. 

If you are listening to English which is too hard for you to neither catch the words nor understand the meaning of it, it's a waste of time. You at least need to catch some of the words otherwise, it would be the same as listening to noise at all times. 

Another tip is that you need to listen consciously. 

Unfortunately, unconscious listening never works. I was hoping that it would help me get used to hearing the native English in their speaking speed. However, unless you pay attention to it and try to catch words, you'll never get it. There is no such subconscious learning skill in us.

The last tip is "Better not to rely on this exercise too much."

I started this exercise originally because it's effortless and available on my spare time. However, the truth is that you always have to listen to English actively and consciously and make it clear whenever if you find a word you don't know. There is no shortcut for English learning.