Back in the old days they were called “books-on-tape”. 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 a lot like having someone read a book aloud to you (okay, it’s exactly that). You’ll be able to discover new things, get lost in an enchanting story, and explore ideas you never knew about. Audiobooks are an excellent way to pass the time and enrich your mind.
And they’re also an ideal tool for audio training.
What’s auditory training?
So you’re most likely rather interested about what exactly auditory training is. It sounds laborious like homework.
As a skilled form of listening, auditory training is created to give you a better ability to perceive, process, and understand 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.
Because untreated hearing loss can cause your hearing to get used to a quieter environment and your brain can grow out of practice. So your brain will have to deal with a substantial increase of new auditory information when you get new hearing aids. When this occurs, your brain will find it difficult, at first, to process all those new sounds as well as it should. Consequently, auditory training often becomes a worthwhile exercise. Also, for people who are dealing with auditory processing disorders or have language learning challenges, auditory training can be a useful tool.
Think of it like this: It’s not really that audiobooks can improve your hearing, it’s that they can help you better distinguish what you hear.
What happens when I listen to audiobooks?
Auditory training was designed to help your brain get accustomed to making sense out of sounds again. If you think about it, humans have a very complex relationship with noise. Every sound you hear has some significance. It’s a lot for your brain to manage. The concept is that audiobooks are an ideal way to help your brain get accustomed to that process again, especially if you’re breaking in a new pair of hearing aids.
Here are a few ways audiobooks can help with auditory training:
- Improvements in pronunciation: In some cases, it isn’t just the hearing part that can need some practice. Those with hearing loss frequently also deal with social isolation, and that can leave their communication skills a little out of practice. Audiobooks can help you get a grip on the pronunciation of words, making basic communication a lot smoother!
- Improvements of focus: You’ll be able to pay attention longer, with some help from your audiobook friends. After all, if you’re getting accustomed to a new set of hearing aids, it might 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.
- Perception of speech: Audiobooks will help you get accustomed to hearing and comprehending speech again. But you also have a bit more control than you would during a regular old conversation. You can rewind if you don’t understand something and listen to something over and over again. This works quite well for practicing making out words.
- Listening comprehension: It’s one thing to hear speech, it’s another to understand it! Audiobooks give you practice digesting and understanding what is being spoken about. Your brain requires practice helping ideas take root in your mind by practicing joining those concepts to words. In your everyday life, this will help you distinguish what people are saying to you.
- 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. Perhaps that guy sitting outside the bar looks innocuous, or your dinner at that restaurant is sumptuous. With audiobooks, you’ll have just the right words queued up for any situation.
Audiobooks as auditory aids
WE recommend that, as you enjoy your audiobook, you also read along with a physical copy of the book as well. This will help make those linguistic connections stronger in your brain, and your brain may adapt faster to the new auditory signals. In other words, it’s the perfect way to bolster your auditory training. That’s because audiobooks complement hearing aids.
Audiobooks are also great because they’re pretty easy to come by these days. You can subscribe to them on an app called Audible. You can easily purchase them from Amazon or other online sellers. Anyplace you find yourself, you can cue one up on your phone.
And there are also podcasts on nearly every topic in case you can’t find an audiobook you feel like listening to. You can improve your hearing and enrich your mind simultaneously!
Can I utilize my hearing aids to listen to audiobooks?
A wide variety of contemporary hearing aids are Bluetooth enabled. So all of your Bluetooth-equipped devices, including your phone, your television, and your speakers, can be connected with your hearing aids. With this, when you listen to an audiobook, you won’t have uncomfortable headphones over your hearing aids. Instead, you can listen directly through your hearing aids.
You’ll now get superior sound quality and increased convenience.
Talk to us about audiobooks
So if you believe your hearing may be starting to go, or you’re uneasy about getting accustomed to your hearing aids, talk to us about audiobooks.
