Is Listening to an Audiobook Considered “Reading”?

Couple things we need to get out of the way before answering this question. First, I want you to know I come at this completely objectively. I pretty much only listen to audiobooks, I read quite slow and have a reading comprehension that one teacher described as, “Impressive ly poor, see me after class”. So there is absolutely no bias coming from me, I’m not being defensive at all, just straight facts only.

Nextly, you may have seen the title is stated in the form of a question. Betteridge’s law of headlines states “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no. It is based on the assumption that if the publishers were confident that the answer was yes, they would have presented it as an assertion; by presenting it as a question, they are not accountable for whether it is correct or not.” Well Betteridge, I take full accountability and plan to write a follow up article entitled “Do I respect Ian Betteridge and his law of headlines?” We’ll see who blinks first. 

Now to answer the question: Yes, listening to audiobooks is the same thing as reading!  All you literate people can get off your high horse. Someone that listens to an audiobook still completely understands what happened, it’s just a different medium. I compare it to watching a sports event. People that are at the game and people watching it on TV are viewing it through slightly different lenses, however, the content they are consuming is the same, they can still talk about a big play in the game, they still both understand everything that happened. Does being at the game or reading the actual book give you a sense of superiority? Yes, but it doesn’t change the fact that you both were able to enjoy the same entertainment (or hate it depending on the game/book).

Still not convinced? Well, I’m gonna just list out a bunch of other analogies and see if any of them work:

-> Someone writes 2+2 on a chalk board (which you read) or someone asks you what is 2+2 (audiobook), you would never claim the person that answered without seeing the math problem didn’t actually ‘do math’. The answer is 4 by the way, in case anyone was wondering (or 5 if you’ve read 1984).

-> You’re all huddled around the camp fire and someone suggests telling some campfire stories. Would you rather someone regale you with an oral (nice) story or give you a book to read? Another win for audiobooks.

-> You travel to another country what is more valuable being able to read the language or understand people speaking the language? Check mate audiobooks.

-> Would you ever claim that someone that is blind isn’t “reading” because they are “reading” braille? They aren’t using their eyes after all to “read”. Of course not, just because they are interpreting the same story through a different medium doesn’t mean it’s not reading. So the next time someone makes fun of you for listening to an audiobook just tell them “well at least I don’t hate blind people” and leave it at that. 

Plus according to Time Magazine (ever heard of it?) In one study they did they found “no significant differences in comprehension between reading, listening, or reading and listening simultaneously”. One study is good enough for me! Case closed.

There are certainly advantages to reading the physical book, that are undeniable but there are ways to get around this:

Advantages to Reading Physical Books

1. Let’s people in public know you’re smart – Physical books announce to the world ‘look what book I’m reading’, it’s an instant conversation starter (although I found that people hate when I come up and start telling them how I hated the ending of the book they’re reading). Listening to an audiobook? Just casually let it slip to random people in public that you’re not listing to music but an audiobook. “Sorry I couldn’t hear you, I’m really into The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and PS, I Love You” or “I’m listening to The Ghost, it’s much better than The Shadow of the Wind”. No additional context needed.  Feel free to do the same when listening to the BBC Podcast just announce it to the world! 
2. Having a book case to show off your books is pretty awesome – Really no way getting around this fact. Unless… You make a whole podcast and write a ton of blogs to show off about all the books you read. Pretty crazy move though only a couple of real sickos would do something like that…

3. Finishing a physical book – there is something special about literally being able to feel your progress as you work your way through and ultimately finish a long book (for me “long” = any book that isn’t primarily pictures). Audiobooks just don’t really give you that same satisfaction. Need a way to fix this, send us a note let us know about the book you just finished, rant and rave to us (our favorite thing to do). Buddy Book Club is here for you, become one of the buddies today!

Alright this was a lot of rambling, I’ll probably add to this as more great analogies and random thoughts come to me but let us know what you think, reach out to us!