Material, we hear, may be influenced (6)
I believe the answer is:
swayed
'be influenced' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'material we hear' is the wordplay.
'material' becomes 'suede' (suede is a kind of material).
'we hear' shows a homophone (sound like).
'suede' is a homophone of 'SWAYED'.
'may' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for swayed that I've seen before include "Moved back and forth or sideways" , "Brought round" , "Swung from side to side, influenced by" , "was unstable" , "Teetered or influenced" .)