The science of reading and Audio books

[Barbara M]

I just saw a very interesting article I thought I'd share. I've been a lover of audio books since they were produced in cassette tape format! It made my 2 hour commute to and from grad school once a week much more bearable. This article is very interesting as it looks a brain response to both print and audio readers!

https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=audi...

[Karin]

Barbara wrote: "I just saw a very interesting article I thought I'd share. I've been a lover of audio books since they were produced in cassette tape format! It made my 2 hour commute to and from grad school once ..."

Awesome!!! I love this and it makes a great deal of sense now that I know it :)

[Meli]

I had heard about this study on a bookish podcast, but (keeping in mind I am not a nuerobiologist / scientist) I question how telling this is since the same people listened to the same story... what if they listen to a story, but then read another story. I guess the stories have to be the same in order to control the variables.

Still, I think "listening" is reading and I enjoy both formats, but find I personally don't retain the information the same. And I am influenced in different ways depending on the narration.

[Karin]

Meli wrote: "I had heard about this study on a bookish podcast, but (keeping in mind I am not a nuerobiologist / scientist) I question how telling this is since the same people listened to the same story... wha..."

Well, given that some of the areas of the brain involved with reading are those involved in speech, etc, this study makes perfect sense. Here is an article about it. Note that this is at Harvard, so it's reading an alphabetical language. For written languages such as Chinese it's not exactly the same parts. But the parts mentioned are the same as those that understand spoken language.

https://neuro.hms.harvard.edu/harvard...

Quote:
A number of brain regions are involved in reading and comprehension. Among them are the temporal lobe, which is responsible for phonological awareness and for decoding and discriminating sounds; Broca’s area in the frontal lobe, which governs speech production and language comprehension; and the angular and supramarginal gyrus, which link different parts of the brain so that letter shapes can be put together to form words.

[Meli]

Interesting!
Frontal lobe is often also often damaged in serial killers :O

I have to share with my audio-reading hating friend.
He finds himself somehow superior since he reads print only *yawn*

[Joanne]

We "print only" people are superior- :P

[Meli]

Joanne wrote: "We "print only" people are superior- :P"

To be fair, I am newly converted. I would love to do print only, but it is impossible to keep up with everything I want to read so I have introduced audio into my routine and I have really come around to it.

[Karin]

Meli wrote: "Joanne wrote: "We "print only" people are superior- :P"

To be fair, I am newly converted. I would love to do print only, but it is impossible to keep up with everything I want to read so I have in..."

To be fair, I can't just sit and listen to audiobooks. I usually listen best while driving or walking. In fact, I have been stuck in the middle of an audiobook I downloaded onto my computer because of this!

[Joanne]

Karin wrote: "Meli wrote: "Joanne wrote: "We "print only" people are superior- :P"

To be fair, I am newly converted. I would love to do print only, but it is impossible to keep up with everything I want to read..."

And also to be fair, I think if I was still working and commuting, I would give Audio a chance....for me, I am stuck at home a lot, so curling up with a book is nicer than sitting with ear buds on my head

[Johanne]

If you're at home jigsaw puzzles and audiobooks is a win for my brain. There are always so many other people in my house and I don't like to close myself off with audio if I am not alone that I don't do it often. I listen to audio on my bike ride to work.

As a librarian working with children's reading motivation, I am a firm believer of any format, genre whatever that gets you reading is a good one.

[NancyJ]

Meli wrote: "I had heard about this study on a bookish podcast, but (keeping in mind I am not a nuerobiologist / scientist) I question how telling this is since the same people listened to the same story... wha..."

Good point. Maybe the brain scans show which regions are activated while taking in the information, versus how they react to the story itself. They might have reversed the order in half the subjects. Or the might have used groups of people randomly assigned to each condition.

[NancyJ]

Johanne wrote: "If you're at home jigsaw puzzles and audiobooks is a win for my brain. There are always so many other people in my house and I don't like to close myself off with audio if I am not alone that I don..."

I often play computer games or do easy chores while I listen. I also listen at bedtime with my eyes closed, which is much better for me than looking at screen of any type.

[Karin]

Joanne wrote: "Karin wrote: "Meli wrote: "Joanne wrote: "We "print only" people are superior- :P"

To be fair, I am newly converted. I would love to do print only, but it is impossible to keep up with everything ..."

I agree, and reading print is faster than listening!

[Book Concierge]

I totally agree that reading print is faster, but I think that listening to audio books has made me a better listener. It's trained me to focus on what I'm hearing rather than trying to come up with a response. (Not that I don't occasionally yell at the CD player in the car ... just saying...)