diff --git a/doc/api/dgram.md b/doc/api/dgram.md
index d3eee26cdd5ac0..57a38e3895f018 100644
--- a/doc/api/dgram.md
+++ b/doc/api/dgram.md
@@ -73,8 +73,11 @@ function is passed a single `Error` object.
 added: v0.1.99
 -->
 
-The `'listening'` event is emitted whenever a socket begins listening for
-datagram messages. This occurs as soon as UDP sockets are created.
+The `'listening'` event is emitted once the `dgram.Socket` is addressable and
+can receive data. This happens either explicitly with `socket.bind()` or
+implicitly the first time data is sent using `socket.send()`.
+Until the `dgram.Socket` is listening, the underlying system resources do not
+exist and calls such as `socket.address()` and `socket.setTTL()` will fail.
 
 ### Event: `'message'`
 <!-- YAML