Back in the old days they were called “books-on-tape”. Back then, obviously, we didn’t even have CDs never mind streaming services. These days, people call them audiobooks (which, to be honest, is a far better name).
An audiobook gives you the ability to read a book by, well, listening to it. It’s kind of like when you were younger and a parent or teacher read to you. You can engage with new ideas, get swept away in a story, or discover something new. Audiobooks are an excellent way to pass time and enhance your mind.
As it turns out, they’re also a wonderful way to achieve some auditory training.
Auditory training – what is it?
So you’re most likely pretty interested about what exactly auditory training is. It sounds complex and a lot like school.
As a specialized form of listening, auditory training is created to give you a stronger ability to perceive, process, and distinguish sounds (medically known as “auditory information”). One of the principal uses of auditory training is to help people 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 cope with a big influx of new auditory information when you get new hearing aids. Practically, this usually means that your brain can’t process those sounds as well as it generally does (at least, not initially). 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 helpful tool.
Think of it like this: Audio books won’t really make you hear clearer, but they will help you better distinguish what you’re hearing.
When you listen to audiobooks, what happens?
Auditory training was created to help your brain get accustomed to making sense out of sounds again. People have a rather complicated relationship with noise if you really think about it. Every sound signifies something. It’s a lot for your brain to process. So if you’re breaking in a new pair of hearing aids, listening to audiobooks can help your brain get used to hearing and understanding again.
Here are a few ways audiobooks can assist with auditory training:
- Listening comprehension: Perceiving speech is one thing, comprehending it is another thing entirely. Audiobooks help you practice processing and understanding what is being talked about. Your brain requires practice helping concepts take root in your mind by practicing connecting those concepts to words. In your everyday life, this will help you distinguish what people are saying to you.
- Improvements of focus: You’ll be able to focus your attention longer, with some help from your audiobook friends. After all, if you’re getting used to a new set of hearing aids, it may have been a while since you last engaged 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: When you listen to an audiobook, you get real-time practice understanding someone else’s speech. But you also have a little more control than you would during a regular old conversation. You can rewind if you don’t understand something and listen to something as many times as you want to. It’s an excellent way to practice understanding words!
- Improvements in pronunciation: You’ll often need practice with more than just the hearing part. Hearing loss can often bring on social isolation which can cause communication skills to atrophy. Audiobooks can make communication much easier by helping you get a grip on pronunciation.
- A bigger vocabulary: Most people would love 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 concerned that bringing your friends along to the bar will really exacerbate your problems with your boyfriend. Either way, audiobooks can help you pick the right word for the right situation.
Using audiobooks as aids to auditory training
Reading along with a physical copy of your audiobook is absolutely recommended. This will help make those linguistic connections stronger in your brain, and your brain may adapt faster to the new auditory inputs. It’s definitely a beneficial way to enhance your auditory training adventure. That’s because audiobooks complement hearing aids.
Audiobooks are also nice because they’re pretty easy to come by right now. You can subscribe to them on an app called Audible. Many online vendors sell them, including Amazon. 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 want to listen to. Your mind and your hearing can be enhanced together.
Can I utilize my hearing aids to listen to audiobooks?
Lots of contemporary hearing aids are Bluetooth enabled. So all of your Bluetooth-equipped devices, including your phone, your tv, 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 greater convenience.
Talk to us about audiobooks
So if you think your hearing might be on the way out, or you’re uneasy about getting accustomed to your hearing aids, consult us about audiobooks.