Audiobooks and audio dramas – like those produced by Big Finish Productions – are a convenient and immersive way to engage with a story, but their benefits go beyond their entertainment value. 

From enhancing comprehension to boosting your mental and physical health, there are many advantages to this increasingly popular pastime. Here are 10 reasons why listening to audiobooks is as good as, if not better than, traditional reading… 

1. They’re good for mental health. 

Those with mental health issues know that it can be difficult to escape intrusive thoughts, and sometimes it can be difficult to slow them enough to be able to concentrate on reading a physical book.  

But, audio drama and audiobooks can be immersive enough to take our attention away from negative thoughts and improve our moods. Multiple academic studies, including one in Aging & Mental Health, have found that listening to audiobooks can help manage the symptoms of anxiety and depression. 

2. They stimulate the brain in the same way as physical books. 

For a study in the Journal of Neuroscience, scientists scanned the brains of a group of people as they either read or listened to the same stories. They found that both methods stimulated the same parts of the brain. 

So, don’t let anyone tell you that listening to an audiobook instead of reading the physical book is “cheating”. Both are valid ways to take in an exciting new story. 

3. They relax your eyes. 

The average person spends 6 hours and 40 minutes of each day looking at a screen. Spending too much time focusing our eyes on what’s close in front of us – particularly screens, though books as well – can lead to eye strain, headaches, blurred vision, and other long-term eye problems. 

While you’re listening to audiobooks or audio drama, your eyes can take a much-needed rest, whether you’re sitting back in bed with your eyes closed or staring out of a train window into the distance. 

4. They can help us sleep. 

It’s all too easy to get into the habit of scrolling on our phones before turning in for the night. But the blue light of screens can disrupt our circadian rhythm, which makes it more difficult to nod off. 

Listening to an audiobook or audio drama can relax both your eyes and your mind – think of it like being read a bedtime story! You’ll be grateful for this benefit after a good night’s kip. 

5. They help with multitasking and time management. 

Reading a book demands your full attention – you need to be sitting with the book in front of you and your eyes focused on it. But with an audiobook or audio drama, you can listen while doing other things. 

This could be going for a walk, exercising in the gym, cleaning your house, or even driving. Listening to audiobooks allows us to multitask and so manage our time better. This can give us a feeling of productivity, which is a boost for the mental health. 

6. They can build literacy skills. 

Despite that multitasking, listening to an audiobook is not a passive activity – it provides opportunities for learning. As Gene Wolfson wrote in a 2008 study, “Audiobooks can model reading, teach critical listening, build on prior knowledge, improve vocabulary, encourage oral language usage, and increase comprehension.” 

This can be a particular benefit for young listeners, who may have to read a lot for school or college studies; audiobooks offer an alternative and can encourage reading for pleasure outside of study. It can also benefit people learning a second language, by building those language skills within the context of an engaging story. 

7. They can help you visualise a story. 

When we engage with fiction, we want to imagine the world it’s set in – particularly if it’s a science fiction or fantasy story set in an exciting universe like that of Doctor Who or Blake’s 7. Audiobooks can help us bring those worlds to life in our minds. 

A study in the Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior found that our brains are more likely to create mental images of a story when we are listening to it compared to when we’re reading from paper. This is because the concentration on the written text uses up our focus, whereas listening frees up the brain’s visual processes. 

8. It’s easy to carry them around with you. 

Don’t you hate it when you’re packing for a trip and you have to choose between a spare set of clothes or that heavy book you’re currently reading? Physical books take up space, in your bag or on your shelf, but audiobooks are easily portable. 

All of Big Finish’s audiobooks and audio dramas are available as digital downloads to own, which can be transferred onto your smartphone. Your purchases can also be accessed via the free-to-download Big Finish app, which makes listening to them wherever you go even easier. 

9. You can understand deeper meanings more quickly. 

A fascinating experiment by Dr Art Markman of the University of Texas revealed how we process information differently when we listen and when we read. If we read a proverb like “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”, we’re more likely to take in the words literally, and associate it with other phrases that include wheels. 

But when we hear that proverb, we’re more likely to connect it with other phrases that have the same meaning. Because we don’t have to do the mental work of reading, our brains work faster to find deeper meaning. So, when we listen to audiobooks, we often have a deeper level of engagement. 

10. Talented readers improve the experience. 

The performance of a skilled reader adds an extra level of enjoyment to an audiobook. Many readers are professional actors and will provide voices for the characters, and with a full-cast audio drama, this goes one step further, with multiple actors and the addition of sound effects and music. 

All of Big Finish’s audiobooks and audio dramas are performed by professional actors. And, for our releases based on popular TV shows like Doctor Who, we have many of the original TV show casts providing their voices. Why read a story when you can hear Tom Baker or David Tennant perform one?