Audiobooks could help supercharge your hearing
With more than 400,000 audiobooks available to download on your device of choice, their appeal continues to grow.
But for those who have trouble hearing, audiobooks can seem like a hard way to enjoy a good book. Whether your hearing has been affected since you were young or it has started to decline more recently, audiobooks can be more helpful than you might realise.
If you want to improve your hearing skills, you might be considering - or have already started - an auditory training program. You might be a candidate for auditory training if you are getting a hearing aid for the first time or have trouble understanding speech despite having ‘normal’ hearing, a condition called “hidden hearing loss”.
Currently, specialised programs and smartphone apps are available and are designed to feel like a video game when you interact with them.
For those of us who like a good story and dramatic voices, audiobooks are a great candidate for auditory training while enjoying literature.
Why audiobooks?
Since hearing is about recognising and interpreting sounds, Nancy Tye-Murray, AuD and professor at Washington University School of Medicine, says audiobooks help us exercise “those linguistic areas of your brain that are crucial for comprehension”.
You can also use them to practise listening to and understanding foreign accents or multiple people speaking at the same time - minus the social pressure and with the option to rewind anytime.
Those with hearing aids can even stream audiobooks directly into their hearing aids via Bluetooth, depending on how advanced the technology is.
How to get started
Rather than diving into the deep end, you can find an audio version of a book you own a physical copy of, meaning that you can read and listen simultaneously.
According to Tye-Murray, it’s best to start off in a quiet space and by listening to a book with a male narrator, since lower pitches are usually easier to hear.
Adjusting the speed can also help, starting at a lower speed than normal speech and increasing it as your skills improve.
But before you pick up your physical book, Tye-Murray recommends listening at a slower speed without reading along “until you’re comfortable with changing to normal speed”.
“Start really paying attention to how much you comprehend,” she said. “After you finish listening to a chapter, you might jot down a few sentences that capture the essence of the chapter” to help you strengthen your brain’s comprehension muscles.
Once you’re comfortable with lower pitched voices, you could choose one narrated by a woman and repeat the same steps.
Since listening can be tiring, it’s important to pace yourself too. 20 minutes to half an hour is a good place to start and you can always rewind if you lose focus.