Reading vs. Listening: Differences and Advantages Between the Two

Recently, I went on a road trip by myself, as I was meeting up with a few of my gal pals for some autumn hiking.

My destination was defined and relatively clear, but to be fair, I have had some directional challenges in the past.

Google Maps, once again coming to my rescue, told me it would take me three hours and 25 minutes to get to my destination.

And to factor in additional time for missed directions, and impending traffic issues, I added a half-hour to my ETA.

Travelling alone wasn’t new to me, but it had been a while since I last ventured out on my own.

Lively music had kept me well entertained while driving but, on this trip, a friend suggested I find a podcast or audiobook to listen to.

Podcasts, at times, were effective sleep aids for me when a bout of insomnia would descend, but dozing off was hardly the outcome I wanted while driving.

Having said that, an unsolved crime story piqued my interest and won my ear.

However, when digesting a story, I have always preferred holding a book in my hands. I love the texture, the sound of pages turning and even the smell.

I readily admit to loving the smell of a new textbook when the school year began. It represented new learning, an exploration of ideas, and unearthing the meaning beneath each new page.

Reading and digesting every word, searching for meaning and relevancy in each sentence, each paragraph, each chapter, and ultimately, each story, was deeply enriching for me.

You could say I was word-obsessed – a logophile, if you will.

And if an unfamiliar word needed deeper inquiry, I would pause and look it up.

This was before Kindle and all the other e-readers, though, so it was a time-consuming process, and you could argue a huge interruption to the flow of the story.

Now it’s just a matter of a few seconds with an e-reader, where all you need to do is click on the word and it will allow a definition search.

But despite what some might say, an e-reader is still reading, and for this article, I want to explore the differences and advantages between reading vs. listening to a book.

The obvious benefits are clear.  We listen to the radio, podcasts and audiobooks when we’re on the go, whether while running, driving, walking the dog, working-out, cooking, cleaning, tidying, fiddling, or repairing.

In other words, the audio versions are for when we are task driven, as they’re convenient, entertaining, and fill in mental gaps while multitasking.

Daniel Willingham, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, and leading researcher on reading comprehension, is frequently asked the question: “Is it cheating if I listen to an audiobook for book club?”

Before answering, he likes to rephrase the question to say, “Does your mind do more or less the same thing when you listen to an audiobook and when you read print?”

And his answer is “Mostly.”

He goes on to explain that there are two processes present when reading – decoding and language processing.

Decoding is about figuring out the words, as young readers do when they first learn how to read.

Language processing, on the other hand, is about comprehension and uses the same mental processes as one uses in oral language.

So, in terms of comprehension, this would suggest that listening to an audiobook is the same as reading print, with the exception that reading might still require decoding, which depends on the reader’s decoding fluency. 

Listening doesn’t depend on this aspect, though.

In young readers, reading proficiency could be due to differences in their ability to decode the words. But in later grades, where children become better decoders, differences in reading ability could be due more to comprehension processes.

For the average adult who is typically a more fluent decoder, studies show a high correlation in scores between reading vs. listening comprehension.

But there are other considerations and factors that contribute to comprehension.  

For example, is the text similar and familiar to the words used in spoken language?

This can depend on the purpose of your reading. Is it for enjoyment and in preparation for a friendly discussion in book club?

In this case, either reading or listening will do the trick for your understanding.  

If the reading is being done to understand more complex topics which use verbiage that’s less common in oral language, then perhaps reading is the better option.

Comprehension of difficult or technical information therefore might vary between reading vs. listening.

When reading, you can stop and revisit a section or look up a word’s meaning for deeper understanding, as the text will wait for you.

But when you’re listening, the information or story will carry on with or without your participation.

When listening, a young reader might be exposed to words and sentence structures more advanced than their existing reading skills, thereby expanding their vocabulary and providing new opportunities for learning.

Plus, listening might generate an interest in a topic that they otherwise might not explore but once exposed to it, will follow up with further reading.

Cody Kommers, a PhD student in experimental psychology at Oxford states: “The critical difference, for me, between reading and listening is that reading is something you do, where listening is something that happens to you. Reading is an act of engagement.”

If you’re not actively reading the words on a page, it can be tough in terms of making progress in the story or digesting the information.

However, an audiobook carries on regardless of the reader’s involvement. The story or information continues, and the reader, if they’re focusing too long on something that was just presented, will need to rewind to catch up with the continuing flow of the narration.

Another benefit of listening to an audiobook is that the reader has the advantage of prosody, which refers to changes in pacing, pitch, and speech rhythm, which can help to convey meaning and emotions.

The narrator can fluctuate and emphasize the words in a way which defines meaning, but in written form, the words on the page wait for the reader to listen to their own internal voice in order to clarify the meaning.

For example, the word present can be interpreted either as “I gave her a present,” or “I will present my paper at the meeting.”

Another classic example of this would be, “visiting relatives can be annoying.”

In its written form, this statement makes it unclear who’s actually the one visiting – you or your relatives.

Most times the context is obvious, but depending on where the punctuation is placed, the onus is on the reader to interpret. 

A famous example of this kind of literary ambiguity is the sentence “I never said she stole my money,” where there are actually seven different meanings depending on which of the seven words is emphasized.

But when you’re listening to a narrator, with the benefit of prosody, this clarifies meaning, gives context, and can enrich the story, aiding comprehension.

Willingham concludes “Listening to an audiobook is not cheating. Cheating implies an unfair advantage, as though you are receiving a benefit while skirting some work. Why talk about reading as though it were work?”

From my perspective, comparing audio books to cheating is like meeting a friend at Disneyland and saying, “You took a bus here? I drove myself, you big cheater.”

The point is getting to and enjoying the destination, not how you traveled there.

So, for now, I’m going to leave my laptop and flip back to my book where I can hear my pages turn and allow my inner narrator to digest the meaning of every word, every paragraph, and every page.  

And I want to wish all of you happy holiday reading, whether you choose a book, an e-reader, or a well-dramatized audio story.

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