In the past they were called “books-on-tape”. Of course, that was well before CDs, much less digital streaming. These days, 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 when you were a kid and a teacher or parent read to you. You’ll be able to learn new things, get lost in an enchanting story, and experience ideas you never knew about. Audiobooks are a great way to pass the time and enrich your mind.
Turns out, they’re also a fantastic way to accomplish some auditory training.
Auditory training – what is it?
So you’re most likely rather interested about what exactly auditory training is. It sounds tedious like homework.
Auditory training is a special form of listening, created to help you enhance your ability to process, perceive, and interpret sounds (known medically as “auditory information”). One of the principal uses of auditory training is to help people learn to hear with their new hearing aids.
Because neglected hearing loss can cause your hearing to get used to a quieter environment and your brain can get 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 takes place, 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 deal with this. (As a side note, auditory training is also worthwhile for those who have language learning challenges or auditory processing disorders).
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.
When you listen to audiobooks, what happens?
Helping your brain make sense of sound again is exactly what auditory training is designed to do. If you think about it, people have a really complex relationship with noise. Every single sound you hear has some meaning. Your brain needs to do a lot of work. The idea is that audiobooks are an ideal way to help your brain get used to that process again, particularly if you’re breaking in a new pair of hearing aids.
Audiobooks can help with your auditory training in a few different ways, including the following:
- Listening comprehension: Hearing speech is one thing, understanding it is another thing completely. When you follow the story that the narrator is reading, you will get practice distinguishing speech. Your brain requires practice helping concepts take root in your mind by practicing linking those ideas to words. This can help you follow conversations more closely in your everyday life.
- A bigger vocabulary: Who doesn’t want to increase their vocabulary? Your vocabulary will get bigger as you’re exposed to more words. Let your stunning new words impress all of your friends. Perhaps those potatoes look dubious, or you’re worried that bringing your friends to the bar will really exacerbate your issues with your boyfriend. Either way, audiobooks can help you pick the right word for the right situation.
- Perception of speech: Audiobooks will help you get accustomed to hearing and understanding speech again. But you also have a little bit more control than you would during a normal conversation. You can listen to sentences numerous times in order to distinguish them. It’s an excellent way to practice understanding words!
- Improvements in pronunciation: In some cases, it isn’t just the hearing part that can need some practice. Hearing loss can often bring on social solitude which can cause communication skills to atrophy. Audiobooks can help you get a handle on the pronunciation of words, making general communication much smoother!
- Improvements of focus: You’ll be able to pay attention longer, with a little help from your audiobook friends. After all, if you’re getting used to a new set of hearing aids, it might have been a while since you last took part in and listened to an entire conversation. An audiobook can give you some practice in staying focused and tuned in.
Using audiobooks as aids to auditory training
Reading along with a physical version of your audiobook is highly recommended. This will help make those linguistic associations stronger in your brain, and your brain may adapt faster to the new auditory signals. It’s definitely a beneficial way to enhance your auditory training adventure. Because hearing aids are complemented by audiobooks.
Audiobooks are also great because they’re pretty easy to get right now. You can subscribe to them on an app called Audible. A wide variety of online vendors sell them, and that includes Amazon. And you can listen to them at any time on your phone.
And there are also podcasts on pretty much every topic in case you can’t find an audiobook you want to listen to. You can improve your hearing and enrich your mind simultaneously!
Can I use my hearing aids to play audiobooks?
Many contemporary hearing aids are Bluetooth enabled. This means you can pair your hearing aids with your cellphone, your speakers, your tv, or any other Bluetooth-enabled device. This means you don’t need to put huge headphones over your hearing aids just to listen to an audiobook. Instead, you can listen directly through your hearing aids.
You’ll now get better sound quality and increased convenience.
Ask us about how audiobooks can help with your auditory training
So if you think your hearing might be on the way out, or you’re concerned about getting used to your hearing aids, consult us about audiobooks.
