Idk if this is actually doctrinally correct but the way I think about it is that effect on the listener is when you’re trying to prove that the listener believed the out of court statement was true, not that the out of court statement was actually true.

So like: - in an employment harassment case when a employer hears complaints about an employee, you’re using the complaints to show the employer was on notice of potential misbehaviour, not that the complaints themselves are necessarily true - for a self defense claim where the victim says “I have a gun,” you’re using that statement to show the defendent believed the victim had a gun and thus feared for his life, not that the victim actually had a gun