Akroatēs (G202) is a hearer of the word. James 1:22–23 warns against being merely a hearer (akroatēs) of the word and not a doer — like someone who looks at himself in a mirror and then immediately forgets what he saw. Romans 2:13 similarly says hearers of the law are not justified before God, but doers.
The word akroatēs raises the critical distinction between hearing and obeying. In Greek culture, attending a lecture (being an akroatēs) was a respectable activity without requiring personal change. James confronts this head-on: the word of God is not lecture content to absorb, it is living truth to obey. The house built on rock (Matthew 7:24–25) belongs to those who hear and do.