follows a noun – usually someone's worry, objection or expectation – and means "paying no attention to it": the action goes ahead as if it were someone else's business.
means "elsewhere". It belongs to writing and formal speech; in conversation you would say
or
.
、。
Paying no attention to his parents' worries, their son went abroad alone.
、。
Ignoring the objections of those around her, she chose her own path.
、。
Heedless of the victims' suffering, the politicians carried on with their power struggle.
When a person is doing the ignoring, the sentence usually criticises them: they should have paid attention.
Unaffected by a situation
When the result simply runs against what was expected – a shop doing well in a recession, a patient getting better – をよそに means "unaffected by" or "contrary to", with no blame attached.
、。
Unaffected by the recession, this shop keeps increasing its sales.
、。
Contrary to everyone's worries, he made a full recovery.
をよそに or をものともせず
is "undaunted by" a difficulty, and praises the person for overcoming it. をよそに ignores other people's feelings or a situation, and does not praise.
、。
Undaunted by his injured leg, he ran to the end.
Lingaku