Speed listening trending as audiobooks, podcasts increase in popularity

FORT MYERS, Fla. Podcasts and audiobooks are exploding in popularity with 67 million Americans listening to podcasts on a monthly basis and the audiobook industry bringing in $2 billion in revenue in 2016.

Software developer by day, author by night, Heather Smith loves to listen to audiobooks, but she doesn’t have a lot of downtime. To cram in as much content as possible, she cranks up the record rate. She’s speed listening, rather than speed-reading.

“I started out listening at the 1.25 [speed],” she says. “And then I bumped it up pretty quickly to 1.5. And then pretty quickly after that I decided I could listen to the full 2x.”

Speeding up audiobooks and podcasts is simple, thanks to a variety of apps or features already built into your cell phone.

“There’s no reason that we can’t speed something up and get just as much out of it,” says Ray Pastore, Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of the Instructional Technology program at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. He’s published several studies on speed listening and found it can lead to “more efficient” learning in academics. But, the process can take some getting used to, he said.

“We’re not used to hearing things fast,” he explained. “We’re actually used to hearing this 150 words per minute speech. So when we listen to something faster, it takes a bit of training.”

How fast can you go? We found some apps offering speeds five or even ten times the normal rate. But you may want to put on the brakes. Pastore’s research shows there is such a thing as “too fast” if you want to remember what you hear.

“If you set the speed too fast, comprehension decreases,” he said. “In fact after about 1.5 times, comprehension significantly decreases on a steady pace until we get to about two times where comprehension just falls off the chart.”

As for Heather, she said she loves taking in her audio at about twice the speed. And says for her, fast is the new normal.

“It’s almost painful to listen slow,” she says.

Pastore said a podcast’s subject matter can make a difference, too. If you’re an expert in the topic being discussed, you may be able to increase the speed a little higher and still understand what’s being said. However, if it’s a new topic, or a subject you’re not familiar with, you might want to decrease the speed, as it’s going to take more brainpower for the basic concepts to sink in.

MORE: New satellite channel to be talk radio for music fans