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To Your Brain, Audiobooks Are Not 'Cheating'
The Difference Between Reading Listening To A Book
There is no real difference between listening to a book and reading as the mental processes involved are the same. Studies show that listeners and readers retain about equal understanding of the passages they’ve consumed.
There are slight differences between them, one being that it’s really easy for your mind to wander when you’re listening to an audiobook, but some scientists believe it amounts to the same as the involuntary rereading eye movements we do while reading.
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“A 985 study found listening comprehension correlated strongly with reading comprehension — suggesting that those who read books well would listen to them well. In a 1977 study, college students...
“A 985 study found listening comprehension correlated strongly with reading comprehension — suggesting that those who read books well would listen to them well. In a 1977 study, college students who listened to a short story were able to summarize it with equal accuracy as those who read it.”
Olga Khazan
The Processes Of The Brain While Reading
Simplifying, two basic processes happen when you read: There is decoding, or translating the strings of letters into words with meaning. And then there is language processing, or comprehension.
Decoding is specific to reading but by about late elementary school, decoding becomes so second-nature that it isn’t any additional “work” for your brain. It happens automatically.
Regressions And Echoic Memory
Reading regularly involves many regressions, where you reread parts of the text to ascertain a word or syntax.
Listening sometimes requires echoic memory which is a brain feature that allows us to remember something we heard without paying attention to it a few seconds after we heard if needed.
Possible Reasons Listening To Books Is Held In Low Regard
- The book might not have been intended to be consumed in such a way and doing so decreases the value obtained from reading it.
- An inertial reaction from our society, especially in schools, where reading a big number of books or certain famous ones was considered an achievement.
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A Case For Audiobooks
Old school printed books and e-books sales remain flat in the last five years, while Audiobook sales have shown an increase.
Such figures show that people are shifting towards audio formats o...
Decoding the Written Word
Audiobooks allow the listeners to get the meaning without the use of their eyes, which books require.
Reading as a skill is 'skipped' while listening to audiobooks, though it is ideal for people with dyslexia, those who cannot 'decode' the written word.
Reading Vs Listening
The reading act, which requires focus, and which makes us stop, think and re-read is somehow only confined to books, as a study proves that retention is higher with books than with podcasts.
The audio format also misses some key visual aspects of fonts paragraphs and headings, that are available in books.
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Why you should embrace books
Reading is essential for a healthy brain. Reading continues to develop the brains of adults and might help slow down or even stop cognitive decline.
Regular readers show more empath...
How to fit in more reading
We often struggle to find time to read. That's why we need to start small.
- Read five pages of a book that interests you every day. When you are comfortable with five pages, try ten, then twenty.
- The book should interest you. Reading a book of your choice makes the activity a pleasure to look forward to.
- It helps to keep the book, audiobook app, or e-reader on you. Then, when you have some downtime, you can read instead of playing a smartphone game.
Audiobooks
Research found that audiobooks stimulate the brain differently but just as deeply as reading.
With print books, you need to provide the voice, imagine the tune and rhythm of speech, the intonation, stress of syllables, and so on. All this gets provided for you when listening to audio. With audiobooks, you're using different methods to decode and understand it. But it still deeply impacts your thoughts and feelings.
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Strategies speed readers use
- Skimming: quickly going through passages to find the main points.
- Meta guiding uses a pointer, such as your index finger or a pen, to guide your eyes along the lines...
Effectiveness of Speed Reading
Regardless of which reading method you use, the evidence points towards the fact that speed comes at the sacrifice of understanding.
Depending on what you’re reading, this might not necessarily be a bad thing: If you’re trying to get through a dry piece to capture a few key points or you are going through a short piece that’s easy to understand, speed reading strategies might make sense.
Make the most of what you read
- Choose different reading pieces for different occasions: articles and light reads can be reserved for short periods. Books that require less focus can be listened to in audio format etc.
- Incorporate reading into your daily habit: put a book on your bedside table.
- Share your reads with others, to help you to better understand and appreciate what you read.
- Reflect on your reading: take notes or check out films that are based on novels (to compare interpretations).