Craze For Audiobooks

For ages, people have read stories in an old-fashioned way, buying or borrowing books, turning each page enthusiastically and keeping a bookmark before closing the book. But in the past ten years or so, a new cult of people who prefer to press play rather than turn pages is making a buzz.  A sudden rise in audiobooks has delighted those who become fidgety as they leaf through a few pages of a book. 

One of the plus points of audiobooks is that people are able to relish literature while doing something else. People who are habituated to listening to music while cooking, cleaning, driving, or doing yoga now feel a sense of accomplishment when they read a book while doing so. The feeling of doing something meaningful during the hours that were otherwise completely unproductive is truly satisfying for many.

For those who hardly have any time to read, audiobooks have been amazingly useful. However, whether listening to audiobooks is as fulfilling as reading a physical book can be a matter of debate. But they have certainly been a boon to people with visual impairment or other reading difficulties. It can also help language learners with pronunciation, tone, and rhythm, while also enriching vocabulary. 

These days almost all newly published book have their audiobooks. People having access to e-libraries can choose either to read the eBook or get the audiobook. As a reader of both, I feel that multitasking while listening audiobook hardly works. We need a lot of attention and concentration; the minute we get distracted, we miss the flow. Listening to an audiobook while cooking is certainly not like listening to music while doing the same.

The audiobook narrators, the real heroes, almost always go unappreciated. Some bring life to characters; their narration with that emotional depth makes us feel as if we are the characters of the novel we are reading, if not a protagonist. Their voice and intonation make us feel the pain, pleasures, sorrow, dilemma, and triumph of the characters. Listening to Prince Harry’s 'Spare', I felt I accidentally became a member of the British royal family, of course, without those beautiful castles and tiaras. 

As a recent development, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated narrators have taken over the real narrators, owing to their cost-effectiveness. When the AI narration lacks emotional depth, listening to an audiobook becomes mechanical, almost like a robot reading a grocery list. 

While listening to an audiobook, listeners are in a dual state of mind: whether they are pinning their ears back or have dozed off.  Last time, I was listening to the memoir of US Vice President JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, the whole time listening to the first part when he describes what his childhood was like, all I was thinking was, "Did I turn off the gas before leaving the house? Why am I not able to lose weight? Is the new diet plan working?" Listening to an audiobook requires a lot of attention, almost like a meditation, but while multitasking, people are hardly able to concentrate on both. 

 Having said all this, the audiobooks have caught the fancy of the new generation.  So plug the ear buds and let someone do the reading for you while you run the errand. After all, in this busy lifestyle, who has the time to set the mood, slouch on the couch, open the book, and read each word?