You may be surprised to learn that Audible has almost as many subscribers as the entire United States population. We can all see it now – audiobooks have left their mark on the literary zeitgeist, and they don’t seem to be heading anywhere. The fact that every content creator in the universe seems to be partnering with Audible (“Thanks to our sponsor, Audible” is a phrase permanently ingrained in my head now) proves that audiobook companies are making a killing with the ever-growing popularity of this phenomenon. Now, even Harry Styles can read you a bedtime story via the Calm app. But why has this trend occurred? From increasing productivity to helping people fall back in love with literature, there are numerous reasons as to why audiobooks have become so prevalent on the market. However, such reliance on audiobooks is not without criticism.
Adding a short note to the conversation, audiobooks haven’t appeared in the public consciousness overnight. Audiobook collections from authors like Roald Dahl were available back in the 1980s. The difference between then and now is that these were CDs and cassette tapes rather than handheld devices (I would be surprised if I saw someone walking down West Street playing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with a walkman). Audiobooks aren’t necessarily revolutionary; however, the staggering increase in the market certainly is, with an expected growth of 5.3 billion this year.
The audiobook provides an easy and time-saving way for people to consume literature in an increasingly technological world. As long as you have a device, you can listen while cooking, cleaning, driving and more. According to critics, just listening removes the romance of reading a physical book. Curling up with a book is an idyllic experience for many readers. However, one must consider the timeframe for which people are able to spend an hour or two sat down reading. With audiobooks helping you multitask by consuming the works of your favourite authors while still doing other things, they provide an excellent way to savour the words of a novel amidst everyday life’s hustle and bustle.
Of course, there is the notion of “Well, it’s true that listening to audiobooks is a great way to save time, but can you actually absorb the content as successfully in comparison to reading a book?”. I’d argue it is a valid concern, especially within the context of using audiobooks for academic reading and education. One could assume that passive listening would result in such an outcome. Yet, when listening intently to an audiobook, studies show a different conclusion.
A study by Professor Beth Rogowsky, detailed in TIME Magazine, describes how two groups of students were tasked to read the book Unbroken and subsequently take an exam on the contents of the book. One group physically read the book, while the other group listened to an audiobook. There were no key differences between the results of the exam, with both groups scoring within a similar range. We should obviously note there were some caveats with this study, for example, those who read did so with an e-book, which itself is a different experience than reading a physical book. We should also note how reading a book gives the reader an opportunity to go back and re-read sentences they did not understand, something more tricky for those who listen to audiobooks. However, I would argue, based on the above scientific evidence, that those who listen to audiobooks are not put at a disadvantage that would seem extraordinarily detrimental to their capability of understanding a text.
In fact, some may suggest that there are extra benefits to listening to an audiobook that traditional reading cannot provide. To explore this notion further, I spoke to Peter Burnett, an author and publisher at Leamington Books. When asked about whether audiobooks count as “real reading”, he noted “You use the phrase ‘real reading’ and of course listening to an audiobook is not reading at all. So developing reading skills will not exactly be achieved by listening to an audiobook, unless you follow along, which many dyslexic people do, to great advantage. Audiobooks can increase your vocabulary just as reading can… If you really wanted to get to know, say, a Jane Austen novel, listening to it would probably familiarise you with it more than reading it. Older books and classical literature can be hard because of many factors, including education, the changing of tone and writing styles, but usually these survive to audio and can be captured.”
The debate surrounding this topic, I believe, will be highly contested for some time. Whilst there is romanticism in reading a physical book, we cannot deny how the accessibility of audiobooks has opened doors in the literary world, providing those who may struggle with reading or who have fallen out of love with it to once again immerse themselves in texts. The semantics of where audiobooks lie in the definition of “reading” is complex, but the conclusion of audiobooks’ usefulness in many contexts is undeniable. If audiobooks truly help those who love literature, who are we to judge?
