Is listening to an audiobook as good as reading? | Audio books

SCamilla has met many notorious figures during her time as a member of the royal family, but her encounter this week with two celebrity duds was at least for a good cause. The Queen appeared in Beano alongside her famous bad boy Dennis the Menace and his dog Gnasher, as part of a campaign to encourage reading.

It wasn’t Camilla’s wasp waist that grabbed the headlines (“I hope so,” she said of her comic avatar), but what she had to say as she encouraged teenage girls to “get interested” in reading: “Comics and audiobooks are important too!”

The popularity of audiobooks has boomed in recent years – the revenue they generate for UK publishers rose by nearly a third in 2023-24 – becoming an increasingly essential part of the industry. But is it really considered a “correct” reading? Is listening to a book while washing the dishes, walking the dog, or going to sleep as valuable as sitting down to read it?

For authors, the publishing industry, and those who promote reading and literacy, the answer is increasingly yes. “Reading is about the content, not the method,” says Debbie Hicks, creative director of The Reading Agency, a charity that promotes the personal and social benefits of reading and leads nationwide reading programs in schools, prisons and communities.

Audio may have traditionally been seen as a less important medium, Hicks admits, “but we need to reframe what it means to be a reader and break away from the traditional value hierarchy associated with print and books. Reading is about the content, not the medium.”

The benefits of audiobooks for those with poor eyesight, dyslexia, or who are strapped for time are clear. They can also act as a gateway for those who may be less inclined to read – while far more women than men are readers, and more men (33%) listen to audiobooks weekly (24%) than women (24%).

The charity’s research shows that the benefits of audio go further: when it comes to developing comprehension skills or acquiring vocabulary, evidence shows that audio is as effective as typing, says Hicks.

John Watt, chair of the Audio Publishers Group at the Association of Publishers, welcomed the Queen’s comments, pointing to research commissioned by the National Literacy Trust in 2024 which found 37.5% of children and young people felt that listening to audiobooks encouraged them to do more traditional reading. More than half (52%) said listening to audio helped them when they felt stressed.

“Listening is the gateway to reading,” says Watt. “It inspires a love of storytelling which is crucial in making children want to read, listen or engage with the story. At a young age, what we really want is for them to engage with the stories – whether they are listening or reading, it helps with literacy.”

In his day job, Watt works as director of audio and business development at publisher Bonnier Books, and says that for the industry as a whole, audio is “critical right now.”

“Audiobooks are now a major part of the industry and they’re not at all an afterthought for anyone in publishing now. The moment they know they’re buying a book, people will think of audiobook alongside print and e-book acquisitions. You think of it in all its formats, and that’s been a big change over the last five years.”

Evidence of the increasing centrality of audio is everywhere, he says, from the growing number of books selling audio files more than print and digital copies – once rare – to the fact that celebrity memoirs are now routinely narrated by their authors. (“Ten years ago, you would have had a hard time getting any famous person close to the microphone.”)

Spotify introduced audiobooks in 2022 and other new platforms like Spiracle entered the market, while the star-studded cast of audiobooks on Amazon Audible tell their own story: a new production starring Pride and Prejudice stars Marissa Abella, Harris Dickinson, Glenn Close, Bill Nighy and Jessie Buckley.

For some authors, this may mean abandoning print altogether. The Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw has published three novels in the traditional way; For his latest work about a troubled NHS nurse, titled Mercy, he pitched first to actress Joanna Scanlan Caraway, then directly to Audible, which released it earlier this month on audio only.

He says that publishing by audio alone was “an amazingly exciting and liberating experience.” “If you had asked me five years ago, I would have said [physical] The reading experience is the authentic experience.” But when a friend recently told him he was reading George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda, “it meant he was listening to the audiobook narration.”

“As much as he was interested in it, he was paying just as much attention and getting just as much out of it as if he were reading a book. And who knows, this might be the way forward?”