We used to call them books-on-tape, once upon a time. Back then, of course, we didn’t even have CDs let alone streaming services. Today, they have a much better name; audiobooks.
An audiobook allows you to read a book by, well, listening to it. It’s sort of like having somebody read a book out loud to you (okay, it’s precisely that). You’ll be able to discover new things, get lost in an enchanting story, and experience ideas you never knew about. Listening to audiobooks while passing time will be a mentally enriching experience.
As it turns out, they’re also a fantastic way to accomplish some auditory training.
What’s auditory training?
So you’re most likely rather interested about exactly what auditory training is. It sounds complex and an awful lot like school.
Auditory training is a specialized type of listening, designed to help you increase your ability to process, comprehend, and interpret sounds (medically known as “auditory information”). One of the primary uses of auditory training is to help individuals learn to hear with their new hearing aids.
That’s because when you have unaddressed hearing loss, your brain can gradually grow out of practice. (Your auditory centers become used to being in a quieter environment.) So your brain will have to cope with a substantial influx of new auditory information when you get new hearing aids. When this happens, your brain will find it hard, at first, to process all those new sounds as well as it should. Auditory training can be a useful tool to help handle this. Also, for people who are dealing with auditory processing conditions or have language learning difficulties, auditory training can be a useful tool.
Another perspective: It’s not so much that audiobooks can sharpen your hearing, it’s that they can help you better distinguish what you hear.
What happens when I listen to audiobooks?
Helping your brain distinguish sound again is exactly what auditory training is designed to do. If you think about it, humans have a very complex relationship with noise. Every single sound signifies something. Your brain has to do a lot of work. The idea is that audiobooks are an excellent way to help your brain get accustomed to that process again, particularly if you’re breaking in a brand-new pair of hearing aids.
Here are a few ways audiobooks can assist with auditory training:
- Improvements of focus: You’ll be able to focus your attention longer, with some help from your audiobook pals. After all, if you’re getting used to a new set of hearing aids, it may have been a while since you last took part in and listened to a full conversation. You might require some practice tuning in and staying focused, and audiobooks can help you with that.
- Listening comprehension: Perceiving speech is one thing, comprehending it is another thing entirely. Audiobooks give you practice digesting and understanding what is being talked about. Your brain needs practice helping concepts take root in your mind by practicing connecting those ideas to words. In your daily life, this will help you understand what people are saying to you.
- Improvements in pronunciation: In some cases, it isn’t only the hearing part that can need some practice. Hearing loss can often bring about social isolation which can cause communication skills to atrophy. Audiobooks can help you get a handle on the pronunciation of words, making basic communication much easier!
- Perception of speech: When you listen to an audiobook, you get real-time practice comprehending someone else’s speech. But you also have a little more control than you would during a normal conversation. You can listen to sentences numerous times in order to understand them. This works quite well for practicing following words.
- A bigger vocabulary: Who doesn’t want to improve their vocabulary? The more words you’re subjected to, the bigger your vocabulary will become. Let your impressive new words impress all of your friends. Maybe that guy sitting outside the bar looks innocuous, or your food at that restaurant is sumptuous. Either way, audiobooks can help you find the right word for the right situation.
Using audiobooks as aids to auditory training
WE suggest that, as you listen to your audiobook, you also read along with a physical copy of the book also. This will help make those linguistic connections stronger in your brain, and your brain may adapt faster to the new auditory signals. It’s definitely a great way to enhance your auditory training experience. That’s because audiobooks enhance hearing aids.
It’s also very easy to get thousands of audiobooks. There’s an app called Audible which you can get a subscription to. A wide variety of online vendors sell them, including Amazon. And you can listen to them at any time on your phone.
And you can also get podcasts on pretty much every topic in case you can’t find an audiobook you want to listen to. You can sharpen your hearing and enrich your mind at the same time!
Can I utilize my hearing aids to listen to audiobooks?
Bluetooth functionality is a feature that is included with many modern hearing aids. This means you can pair your hearing aids with your phone, your speakers, your tv, or any other Bluetooth-enabled device. This means you don’t need to place huge headphones over your hearing aids just to listen to an audiobook. Instead, you can listen directly with your hearing aids.
You’ll now get better sound quality and increased convenience.
Talk to us about audiobooks
So come in and talk to us if you’re concerned about having trouble getting accustomed to your hearing aids or if you believe you might be experiencing hearing loss.