Is reading always better for your brain than listening to audiobooks?

As an avid reader – and an author, too – I’m disheartened by frequent reports of a decline in reading for pleasure among young people. But when a friend recently asked me whether her daughter was getting the same cognitive benefits from an audiobook as she would from reading, my instinct was to think “she’s enjoying a book, the format doesn’t matter”. However, when I dug into the science, I found the medium does shape the mind in subtly different but meaningful ways.

The benefits of reading

There’s no doubt reading is good for us. Beyond the knowledge it provides and the opportunities it opens up, a litany of studies links good literacy in childhood with physical and mental health – and even longer life.

Reading is thought to exercise three important cognitive processes. Firstly, it encourages “deep reading”, in which we draw connections between sections of the material, reflect on its relevance to our own lives and ask probing questions about its content – all of which can change our perspective on life itself.

Secondly, reading cultivates empathy and increases our emotional intelligence, qualities that are thought to help us deal with stress and other real-world challenges. And thirdly, there are links between reading and the development of “theory of mind” – the ability to understand how other people’s thoughts and beliefs differ from our own.

But it can be hard to untangle the effects reading has on our lives from other factors. People who read more may also benefit from privileges such as more free time, more money or even a genetic predisposition to finding reading easier, and these in turn may affect health, cognition or longevity.

However, one study of more than 3500 people which attempted to account for these factors, found those who read books for about 30 minutes a day were 20 per cent less likely to die over the next 12 years than those who didn’t read at all. They also found this advantage was greater for those who read books compared with those who only read newspapers or magazines.

Screens, e-readers and audiobooks

When it comes to comparing reading in print with other mediums, such as e-readers, the research gets more complex. A number of studies suggest reading text on a screen encourages us to skim and therefore understand less than if we read the same text on paper.

There are other subtle differences. In a series of experiments, Anne Mangen at the University of Stavanger in Norway and Frank Hakemulder at Utrecht University in the Netherlands found that people who frequently read shorter, screen-based texts were less likely than book readers to look for meaning in a passage. Additionally, the more people were exposed to screen reading, the less persistence they showed in grappling with longer literary texts.

When it comes to audiobooks, the evidence is thinner, but reassuring – studies generally find comprehension is broadly similar regardless of whether you’re reading or listening to a book. Still, some subtle differences have emerged. A meta-analysis of 46 studies, for instance, found reading gave a slight edge when it came to making inferences about a text – such as interpreting a character’s feelings.

Different ways of thinking

In fact, the act of listening rather than reading seems to tap into different elements of our cognition. A study of people who were given spoken or written problems to answer, for example, found individuals reasoned more intuitively when listening to the problem and more deliberately when reading it.

Listening to an audiobook also involves hearing another person’s voice, often bringing intonation, rhythm and emotion that can shape its interpretation, says Janet Geipel at the University of Exeter, UK. Reading, by contrast, relies on our inner voice, which may make the experience more self-paced and personally inflected. These differences, she says, could potentially influence how we process and use the information.

Nevertheless, “listening to audiobooks is not inherently detrimental”, says Geipel. “What can make it detrimental is the way attention is managed: if you are fully focused, listening is just as effective as reading, but if you are multitasking while listening, your depth of processing may be lower than when you sit down and read without distraction.”

Choosing what works for you

Listening while reading adds yet another dimension. A meta-analysis by Virginia Clinton-Lisell at the University of North Dakota suggests there may be a small benefit to comprehension from listening while reading, but this probably only applies to people who struggle to decode words, such as those with lower literacy levels or those who are learning to read in a second language. Proficient readers might experience a negative effect due to “cognitive load theory”, in which presenting information in two formats causes redundancy and risks overwhelming our limited cognitive resources.

Ultimately, there are many reasons you may choose audiobooks over print – dyslexia, sight problems, a long drive or simple preference. As to whether you’re getting the same benefits from doing so? “There is no straightforward answer,” says Geipel.

If you do have the choice, you may want to save a really interesting podcast, or a book you need to think deeply about, for a time when you can give it your full attention, rather than when you’re cooking dinner. But if, like my friend’s daughter, you’re engaging in a story for pure pleasure? Using an audiobook seems a far better choice than not experiencing it at all.