With our world constantly becoming more digital, there has recently been a rise in rejecting physical books in favour of audiobooks. Of course, the main difference between a physical book and an audiobook is the fact that the former can be held whilst the latter cannot. Nevertheless, does listening to audiobooks count as reading? Well, let’s find out.
There are many benefits to listening to audiobooks. Audiobooks are more convenient with our lives being so busy nowadays. You can listen to an audiobook whilst you do other things which is much more practical. Audiobooks are also more space-friendly. With the rise of audiobooks, there may be a reduced demand for the printing of books which is eco-friendly.
The most obvious similarity between audiobooks and physical books is the fact that the same information is still being taken in by the consumer, just in a different manner. However, the fact of the matter is that an audiobook will never be the same as reading a book. When children learn how to read, they use books. How will they learn to read if they are not actually reading a book but listening to instead? Children simply cannot acquire the same skills from listening to an audiobook.
Audiobooks could be defeating the purpose of written work. Classic novels may lose their worth once they become audiobooks and I am pretty sure Shakespeare would not appreciate us listening to his work rather than reading it for ourselves.
With an audiobook, you may not absorb the information in the same way you would when reading a book. When we read stories, we tend to imagine what the voices of characters will sound like. This also allows us to visualise their appearance and other features in a much better manner. An audiobook places voices onto characters and it blocks our imagination. We can no longer create our own perception of a character.
Listening to an audiobook will never be the same as reading a book. Listening and reading are two very different skills. They will both always be important. We must appreciate that you cannot have one without the other so there is not much of a point in trying to replace physical books with alternatives like audiobooks.
I hope that when you next ‘read’ a book, you choose to actually read rather than merely listen.
By Halimah Begum
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