More and more people are listening to books rather than reading them, but how do the two experiences compare? Do people retain the same amount from audiobooks? Is one format easier to get into than the other? How do the different formats affect the experience of the book? Does the format change the way the book is interpreted?
No, people respond to audiobooks and real books in the same way
Audiobooks and real books have the same words
The words the author has chosen are designed to communicate a specific message and so, experiencing those words in any format will have a standardised effect.
Yes, people respond differently to audiobooks and real books
A reader's voice can influence the listener's interpretations in audiobooks
A voiceover for a character or a narrator may place different emphases on words or speak in a different accent to the one you would have imagined in the book.
Books create a more emotive and personal experience than audiobooks because they are physical, tangible objects that can contain and display art. An audiobook exists in an intangible, digital space.
