Should You Prefer Listening to Audio Books Vs Reading Books?

Listening to audio books has become a popularWhat about comprehension?
alternative to reading books. Many people listen toIt is pretty clear that you can read printed books
audio books while driving, jogging or doing householdfaster, if you are not a very slow reader. For
work. The increasing popularity of audio books leadscomprehension the picture is not as clear as it
to a question: "Is it better to read a book or listen todepends on the type of memory you have. When
an audio book?" While different people may haveyou have visual type of memory then you
different preferences, I will approach this questioncomprehension will be higher for printed books. On
from the viewpoint of efficiency of the readingthe other hand, if you have auditive type of memory
process.then you will comprehend better when you listen to
Which way is faster?audio books.
In case of printed texts, the average reading speedComprehension is related to concentration. The
for an average person is about 200-250 words perbetter you focus, the more you will remember. In
minute. The listening speed of audio books is aboutmost cases it is easier to focus to reading as reading
120-140 words per minute, which is almost two timesis more active process than listening. There can be
slower. Furthermore, you can increase your readingsome individual differences, for most people it more
speed by learning to speed read, which may able youprobable that their though are likely to wonder away
to read at 500-700 words per minute.when listening to audio books.
The possibilities for increasing the listening speed areOptions for multitasking
not so great. You can use special software forAudio books allow for multi tasking. When you are
speeding them up, but it is difficult to listen to a veryreading a printed text then it is not a good idea to
fast speech. For example, auctioneers speak at aboutdeal with other tasks at the same time, such as cook
250 words per minute. You really cannot follow if thedinner or watch TV. It will kill both your reading
speaker is talking much faster than it.speed and comprehension. Listening is slower and less
Options for previewactive process and you can listen to them while
In many cases you do not want to read the wholedriving or cleaning your apartment and you
book, but you will search for a specific place in it orcomprehension will not suffer much from these
you want to make a quick preview of it. It is easy toactivities.
look through ordinary books at rapid pace. You canI personally like to read ordinary books as it is much
scan them with your eyes and search for keyword,faster and I have visual type of memory.
headlines, tables and figures. It is easy to read bookNevertheless, I will not count out audio books as the
selectively. It means that you will ready only somedue to the benefit of multi-tasking. For example, I
chapters or parts of chapters. It is much morelisten to them while driving longer distances.
difficult to listen selectively.