Two years ago I started listening to audiobooks, and I quickly became a big fan. Since then, I’ve been giving some thought to the subject and arrived at a few conclusions.
First of all, I think I was somewhat late to getting into audiobooks. The thing is, I used to be skeptical and thought audiobooks were meant for lazy readers, and that I’d rather read the book. But I was wrong about that, and I’m glad I gave audiobooks a try. It’s actually a different experience that can coexist with regular book reading.
Audiobooks have been growing in popularity for the last few years, and for the moment, it’s an upward trend. They have been around for many decades, but they never really were as accessible as they are today, thanks to digital formats and online audiobook streaming services.
But anyway, the first thing that struck me when I started listening to audiobooks was how natural the experience felt. It makes sense. Humans have been telling stories to one another and passing information between them in an oral way ever since the invention of language. I guess you could even say audiobooks are a more natural medium for us for transmitting information than regular books.
My favorite kind is the audionovel. I regularly listen to an audionovel for an hour or two each night before going to sleep, and my conclusion is that it’s kind of a similar experience to watching a movie, especially if you listen in complete darkness with your eyes closed.
Let me explain. When you are reading a novel, you obviously have to focus your mind on reading and processing the words. This alone takes some good effort. You also have some additional distractions that you have to deal with, like the fact that you still can see part of the world around you, even if you are trying to focus your eyes on the text in front of you. Also, your environment might be kind of noisy.
So, if you try to imagine what’s happening in the novel as you read, your imagination won’t be as efficient as it could be, as you are wasting a lot of mental energy dealing with those other things.
Also, holding a book, e-reader, or whatever can also get kind of tiring.
This is where the audionovel comes in. As you’re only focusing on listening, and you’re not wasting your mind’s resources on other things, your imagination is free to use its full potential, so you can more easily get a very powerful and immersive movie-like experience.
It’s important to note that our listening system is tuned in a way that makes us kind of “see the world” through hearing, even if we are not regularly aware that this is happening. This is called “multisensory integration,” and it refers to how our brain is capable of integrating information from multiple senses, including sight and sound, to create a more accurate and complete picture of the world around us.
So, one of the reasons audionovels are really good at helping us imagine the narration better than just reading is that our brains are used to integrating auditory information into the way we perceive the world. Listening as someone narrates an audionovel might stimulate that multisensory integrating aspect of our brains we unconsciously use every day and kind of automatically help us fill the gaps in our imagination.
In addition, listening to a narrator’s voice can also add emotional depth and nuance to the story, as the tone, pace, and inflection of their voice can convey a range of emotions and meanings that might be difficult to capture through written words alone. This can make the experience of listening to an audionovel more engaging and emotionally resonant, as the listener is able to connect with the story on a more profound level.
There’s also audionovels that have multicast narrations, sound effects, and even music. Those can create an even more immersive experience.
Of course, you still need to concentrate and put some effort into it. Listening to an audionovel can potentially be a similar experience to watching a movie, but it’s not as effortless as watching TV. You still have to direct your attention to the sound and focus on the words.
This gets easier. If you let go of the rest of your thoughts and just occupy your attention on the audionovel, you can get into this kind of state where you’re letting your imagination flow freely with what you’re listening to, in real-time. Try it with your eyes closed, with some noise-canceling earbuds on, in total darkness. Good stuff.
