It takes longer to listen to a book than read it

[Davros]

I was reading a hefty tome for Book Club on my Kindle. However, I felt I wasn't making fast enough progress so switched to Audible. At the same chapter, the kindle says 51 minutes to go and Audible says 2 hours. I've got through more on Audible as I can listen in the car, when I'm tidying the kitchen etc but I'm surprised that there is such a difference. Has anyone else noticed this?

To me this would seem obvious. I can read something to myself (in my head) much, much faster than I can read it aloud.

Of course it takes longer for a voice actor to read a book out loud than for someone's eyes to skim over words.

Audio books mean you can do other stuff while listening instead of just holding a book.

Obviously it takes longer. Read a paragraph, then read it aloud. Only early years children read at the same rate as they speak.

You can slightly increase the speed. I've done this when I'm not loving a book but want to finish it.

Of course it takes longer to listen than read.

Makes perfect sense to me. The fact I get to listen in the car is what makes audiobooks so persuasive.

Tve narrator has to pause for breath and dramatic effect. They also have to speak clearly so probably slow down a bit than they would speak normally.

I usually multitask when I am listening to audiobooks so dont mind if they are a bit slower. If I am reading a book it gets my full attention.

Yes. It’s why I can’t listen to audiobooks at all. They’re so maddeningly slow. If I speeded them up to the pace of my own reading, the narrator would be squeaking like Alvin and the Chipmunks.

🐘 what a dumbo! I was surprised but I realise it makes perfect sense. When we choose a book for BC I usually check the length by looking on either Audible or kindle so I will stick to kindle to check it.

I always speed audiobooks up to at least 1.5x, they’re far too slow otherwise.

I have had to abandon audiobooks because the narrators are almost always annoying. And yes, SLOW.

But non-fiction, narrated by the author themselves can be good and useful for car journeys etc.

This is why I hate the trend for people producing videos as a way of sharing information. I don't want to watch a 3 minute video to receive the same information that I could read in about 20 seconds, the latter also having the advantage that it's written down so easier to refer back to.

I don't listen to audio books but I do listen to a lot of podcasts while doing the tasks you mention. I have mine on 1.25 setting and most of the time it's not noticeable that it's faster. In fact, I was thinking of speeding it up to 1.5 x, as I'm getting behind with my subscriptions and I'd get through them faster.

Absolutely, this is the reason that it drive me nuts that so much content on websites and apps nowadays is video instead of text, it means it takes ages to get through it.

Yes, reading aloud is much slower than reading in your head. When reading aloud there are considerations like intelligibility, pacing, theatricality, dramatic emphasis etc which don’t apply when reading in your head. Everyone reads faster in their head than aloud, but especially those narrating audiobooks who are putting on a performance as well as simply narrating words.

Probably but you can increase the speed on audible and you can also listen while doing other things

Captain Obvious to the rescue!

I don’t think most authors should read their books for audio, fiction or otherwise. It’s a particular skill set most people don’t have.

I don't think I've ever listend to a fiction book on audible with the author narrating - only non fiction.

But I just can't get on with narrators. Most of them go way too OTT or put random pauses etc in the wrong place.

Me too!

Word of warning. I listened to all the Harry Potter books during cancer treatment. Now when I hear his voice, it is like nails on a blackboard!

You can speed up the play back on Audible, Spotify etc and even You Tube up to 2 x faster.

I personally think it can affect my comprehension, its okay for fiction though.

Marian Keyes narrated her book, Grown Ups. It was delightful.

It does. BUT - you don't have to stop listening to an audiobook to do chores, go for a run, take the dog for a walk. So I can breeze through an audiobook in a week but reading takes a month

They are different ways to enjoy a book. Listening to a book isn't meant to be as quick as reading it to yourself.