Coming before one to ask insensitively for a hearing? (5)
I believe the answer is:
prior
'coming before' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'one to ask insensitively for a hearing?' is the wordplay.
'one to ask insensitively' becomes 'pryer' (to pry is to ask about something insensitively).
'for a hearing?' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'pryer' is a homophone of 'PRIOR'.
(Other definitions for prior that I've seen before include "Head of a religious order" , "English keeper" , "Earlier, coming before another in time" , "writer of epigrammatic verse" , "Previous - religious leader" .)