Since the dawn of mankind, oral storytelling has been used to pass stories from one generation to the next. With the invention of the written word and, over time, the increased availability of affordable books, the tradition of oral storytelling almost disappeared. Now, thanks to audiobooks, it’s been given new life.
The History
Spoken words were first recorded in 1877 with Thomas Edison’s invention of the phonograph. They were recorded on round cylinders that held only four minutes’ worth of sound. Can you imagine? It would take a whole room just to hold the cylinders needed to listen to a twenty-hour-long audiobook. (For you math-challenged readers, that’s 300 cylinders!) At least you’d get your exercise, jumping up to change cylinders every four minutes.
“Talking books” have been around since the 1930s. By then, the use of close-grooved records increased the recording time from four to twenty minutes. But that still wasn’t enough time to make audiobooks feasible—especially large novels. The advent of cassettes, CDs, the internet, and other technologies helped fuel the audiobook industry, and beginning in the late 1990s, the popularity of audiobooks jumped dramatically.
Did You Know…
- The first talking books were designed for blind readers. In the late 1940s, blind World War II veterans, who didn’t read Braille, exposed the need for more recordings, especially textbooks.
- Audiobooks make books accessible to everyone. Being blind isn’t the only disability/reason to choose audiobooks. Some people can’t physically hold a book, while others may have a brain injury or focus issues that make reading difficult.
- The term “audiobook” was coined in the 1970s. The Audio Publishers Association made it the industry standard in 1994.
- In 2020, the audiobook publishing industry passed the one-billion-dollar mark.
- Audiobooks (and e-books) are good for the environment, saving trees and transportation fuels.
- Learning to read, write, and speak another language is easier with audiobooks.
A Warning
I’ve always loved books, but I must admit I wasn’t initially keen on audiobooks. Then, one Christmas, I decided to listen to one as I drove from Tennessee to Texas. Wow! The trip flew by. Of course, the fact I couldn’t remember driving through Memphis or Little Rock scared me enough that a couple of years passed before I tried it again.
At first, I just listened during those Tennessee-to-Texas-and-back trips. However, as my reading time dwindled, I began to listen to audiobooks as I did chores around the house. Now I’m hooked. But be warned. Although there are many benefits, be careful not to become too engrossed. Stay alert, especially when driving. I just “lost” a little time on my trip, but I have a cousin who drove over one hundred miles past her turnoff because she was so absorbed in her audiobook. Something I learned after my first audiobook travel experience.
Did You Know…
- Listening to audiobooks can help improve your memory, especially for people with Alzheimer’s or other cognitive problems. It activates areas in the brain responsible for speech comprehension, which increases overall brain activity.
- Listening to an audiobook is good for both physical health (prevents eye strain and headaches) and mental health (helps manage depression and anxiety, and reduces negative thinking.)
- With no electronic screen’s blue light to disrupt your circadian rhythm, a nice, non-scary audiobook at night can help you relax and fall asleep.
- Audiobooks can enhance focus, improve critical listening skills, expand comprehension skills, and build fluency, pronunciation, and vocabulary.
The End . . . Or The Beginning
A lot has changed since Edison made his first recording, especially in the last twenty-five years. From two hours of audio on specifically designed audio players to today’s smartphones offering hundreds of hours, the ability to listen has never been easier. The same goes for the variety and number of audiobooks available, which increases by more than 35,000 each year.
Getting started is easy, and since June is National Audio Book Month, it’s the perfect time to begin. You can use a free app like Libby and borrow books from your library, without having to go to the library. (Although many libraries still have audiobooks on CDs.) If you want a wider range of books, a nominal monthly subscription fee to a program like Audible, Kobo, Audiobooks.com, Amazon Prime, Scribd, or Kindle Unlimited offers unlimited audiobooks.
Whatever you choose, why not become one of the more than 67 million Americans who listen to audiobooks?
Did You Know…
- Your brain doesn’t care if you use your eyes to read a book or your ears to listen to it being read. It’s the same thing.
- Scenes and characters in audiobooks are more interesting, and more engaging cognitively and emotionally, because you actively created them in your mind versus watching someone else’s vision of them in a movie.
- A University College of London study found that, although the participants thought they had more involvement while watching movies, their physical responses proved they were more engaged when listening to stories.
- Like books in general, audiobooks allow you to visit other worlds, often with the added attraction of sound effects.
- Audiobooks improve time management. You can do other things (yard or housework, driving, etc.) while listening. This is especially helpful if you don’t have the time to sit and read a book.