Are Audio Books Harmful?

TammyII · Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:15 am

Hi everyone,

I have a question, is it really true that audio books can be harmful for individuals, or children especially? Someone told me that it makes a child lazy...

chancew1 · Fri Aug 12, 2011 3:54 pm

I can't imagine an audio book making someone lazy.

Especially children. I don't know if I've ever see a child listen to an audio book.

First of all, most people can read at least two or three times faster than they can listen. It takes a lot of time to get through an audio book. Most people listen to audio books at times when they can't read - in the car, while doing housework, that sort of thing.

Finally, an audio book only provides the words, just like reading. The only difference is that they come in the ears, not the eyes. It's not like a television show - you still have to use your imagination.

I don't see how listening with the ears is any more lazy than looking with your eyes.

Cherrybear13 · Sat Aug 13, 2011 4:22 pm

Plus, some audio books can bennefit children. They have the read along books with the audio so difficult words are used in sentences to help the child understand.

Chris OConnor · Sat Aug 13, 2011 6:25 pm

I think audiobooks are a great compliment to written books and as Bill says above they are perfect for when a person cannot take the time to read.

BretAM5 · Sat Aug 13, 2011 6:29 pm

I could never read in the car growing up (still can't, always get carsick after a minute or so). But I must have listened to the first four Harry Potter books on cassette about a hundred times on long car trips. I don't think it hurt my development as a reader.

By the time the fifth book was out and on audio, though, I had discovered classic rock, and my car rides became filled with glorious music. To each his own.

DamianLake · Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:24 pm

I hear this opinion from time to time. Here is my own take on it, as a person who has spent 3/4 of my life immersed in books, and half of them audiobooks thanks to my local library.

It seems to me that anyone spouting the statement that audio books makes children lazy is someone who, himself, is too lazy to actually look up that sort of statistic and is instead passing off their own opinion disguised as a pseudo-fact. Parents are encouraged to read to their children because it is beneficial in numerous ways. I could go on endlessly, but the facts are best summed up by the masters themselves.

Jim Dale, (the most awesome reader the Harry Potter books could have ever received), shares the company line with us at the end of the last few Potter books. I wholeheartedly agree with the statement. Nothing I have ever seen in my own life and the lives of others has made me question this even once. Here is their argument, word for word:

"Hello, this is Jim Dale. I hope you have enjoyed this unabridged listening library production. As you know, audio books are great entertainment and a wonderful way to enjoy a good book when your hands are busy, but have you ever considered audiobooks as being good for you? Most of us know from firsthand experience just how beneficial it is to read aloud to the children in our lives. Listening to stories helps children build vocabulary, improve their reading skills, and succeed more readily in school. Being read to is an important step on the road to becoming a good reader and one of the best ways to ensure a lifelong love of literature and reading. But few of us have all the time we'd like to read to the children in our lives; that's where audiobooks can help. Instead of letting a child turn on the television or pop in a video game, try pressing play and engaging them in a good book. Listening to an audiobook has the same educational value as it would if someone were doing the reading in person, and they are great entertainment for trips in the car or at home when no one is available to read to them. A wide range of books guaranteed to appeal to children of all ages, including most childhood classics, are available on cassette or cd in bookstores and libraries across the country. So the next time you are considering what to listen to, why not consider picking up something for the children in your life?"

DamianLake · Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:32 pm

Just to complete my thoughts from above, I would go crazy if I didn't have my headphones to listen to while doing the yard work or other household chores that are so mind-numbingly dull.

downtown1441 · Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:47 am

Kind of on a related note, I just saw this article about how a company is releasing an app that sets e-books to soundtracks, unless it's classical music I can't imagine it not being distracting though:

http://www.businessinsider.com/booktracks-2011-8

R. LeBeaux · Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:09 am

Does reading to a child cause harm? Though it lacks the human interaction and question/answer aspect, I would guess that listening to an audio book is a similar experience to having a book read by a parent or other adult. I read to my children every night when they were young, in the hopes that they would develop a love for literature and reading. It worked for my first two, but by the time my youngest was in his teens, cell phones, the Internet and video gaming had come along and essentially replaced all that with more "instant gratification." On the other hand, he learned to type incredibly fast and became a good writer, so I guess the tradeoff was ultimately of some value.

nomsisa · Sat Sep 17, 2011 2:53 pm

During many sleepless nights have I enjoyed stories told to me..often drifting off , missing the last few pages read; but tomorrow night will arrive, sleepless hours too.. and some one will read to me again...starting where we left off during a previous night..
Though, I do prefer turning pages ...

DamianLake · Sat Sep 17, 2011 10:00 pm


	Tanya Reid wrote: Some times audio books can prove to be harmful, as listening them in full volume can cause damage to the ear drum especially of young children.

Actually, I recall a study showing that most hearing damage is caused by decibel levels, not volume levels. Did you know that an infant's cry has a higher decibel level than a jet airplane engine? Certainly volume can be harmful to the ears, but in almost all cases it is the result of prolonged exposure to elevated volume levels, (such as at construction sites), over years that cause the damage.

While I do not encourage the average person to listen to headphones at maximum volume all the time, even then it is at a low enough level that hearing isn't really effected. I have to listen to my books at max volume when I am mowing the lawn if I want to hear anything over my gasoline push mower, but after 20 or so years, I can still hear someone whispering about me two rooms away, even while I am wearing my sony mdr-v150 headphones, (though without the book or music playing, obviously).

carolynccourtney · Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:40 am

There are a number of problems with it that, while not harmful to the community in general, rather than some of the fundamental teachings of HNIR.

DamianLake · Fri Sep 30, 2011 9:28 pm


	carolynccourtney wrote: There are a number of problems with it that, while not harmful to the community in general, rather than some of the fundamental teachings of HNIR.

Ummmmm........I'm sorry, what? I have read your comment several times and am having trouble deciphering your intended meaning. What, specifically, has a number of problems? Also, what is the HNIR and what are its fundamental teachings? So far all I have found for that acronym are the Hockey Night In Richmond group, and the Hyoho Niten Ichi-Ryu martial arts group. I rather doubt either of those organizations promote a stand on audio books.

On an unrelated note, I notice that one of the members who posted in this thread seems to have vanished along with all her posts. What causes that? I'd hate to think the Men in Black are lurking behind the smilies.

Aqueda_Veronica · Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:49 pm

Maybe it's not exactly the same thing, but I grew up listening to radio shows and dramas, loving them and I turned out just fine

I would still read of course, but radio was something different, gave me a different kind of satisfaction. I actually feel sorry for the next generation that they'll be missing the thrill of staying late at night just to catch the next episode of their favorite series on the radio, with the lights turned off and volume way down not to wake anyone else in the house... Good times!

tjamesmoss.author · Sat Oct 15, 2011 9:08 am

Audio books are divine, especially for struggling readers. If you have a child and the two of you sit down with the same book and an audiobook, and reading experience is transformed. Then, there are THREE readers taking up residence in that child's mind. That's a way to encourage reading.

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