Audiobook’s popularity amongst children is rapidly increasing each year. Thus, a study shows the role of audiobooks in supporting children’s emotional and mental wellbeing. Research shows audiobooks benefit children's literacy, learning, emotional, and mental health. 7 in 10 children and young people said that listening to audiobooks makes it easier to understand the content of a book.

 

Benefits on literacy

The review with audiobooks and literacy, shows how audiobooks can widen children’s access to literature. Audiobooks offer easy access on many devices to an extensive range, as the listening experience deepens their understanding of tone, pronunciation, accents, and dialects.

Research also includes evidence that listening to an audiobook requires the same cognitive skills as reading physical books. This also supports skills development including language comprehension and the ability to understand and recall information.

Audiobooks are also effective for reluctant, struggling, and developing readers - listening to stories on a digital device is appealing to them. Children able to access a wider range of stories where difficulty understanding a written text is a barrier.

Benefits on literacy:

  • Promote a better vocabulary, understanding of words (comprehension), their meaning, and pronunciation.
  • Ensures child be able to familiarize idiomatic phrases and different tenses. 
  • Helpful with children becoming familiar with advanced sentence construction.
  • Read aloud teaches phrasing and fluency. Authors write some books to read aloud and listening to them is more accurate than reading.
  • Help child understand complex language.
  • Help child learn punctuation, enunciation, and emphasis.
  • Earn to understand language above child’s reading level and learn new words.
  • Using rhyme and repetition, children able to learn and remember new information in an easy and entertaining way.

 

Mental and Emotional Benefit

Audiobooks allow children struggling with reading to develop their vocabulary and empathy, helping them learn how to express themselves and access educational content.

Some of the research reviewed showed that listening to a human voice can stimulate a stronger emotional response than reading, indicating that audiobooks have the potential to support a child’s emotional intelligence.

One of the main reasons children listen to audiobooks is to help them relax.

Other findings include:

  • 1 in 3 children and young people said that listening to audiobooks made them feel better during lockdown.
  • 1 in 2 children and young people say that listening to audiobooks made them more interested in reading and writing.
  • Help develop a child’s imagination.
  • Help children cope better with long rides.
  • Children who find it hard to sleep alone may find it easier to do so if they listen to stories when they go to bed to relax.
  • Develop listening skills.
  • Excellent tools for dyslexics and children with reading disabilities.
  • Develop creativity and concentration.

Jonathan Douglas, Chief Executive of the National Literacy Trust, said:

“Audiobooks shows the value of stories to children’s lives, the comfort, and the entertainment it can offer – particularly in times of uncertainty.”

 

Beneficial for Parents

The audiobooks are also a great conversation starter for parents and their children. A great way for them to think about what they have just listened and practice what they have learned, merging knowledge in their mind.

Parents discover audiobooks with music and sound effects, involve children in a way simply reading and not only offer ease of use.

Audiobooks introduce new genres of literature to children, opening a completely new world of books. Children can listen to audiobooks anywhere, and they motivated to read more.