Using audiobooks as a student

While you’re studying at university, making use of every tool available to you is so important; and with audiobooks becoming easier and easier to get your hands on why not make them a part of your routine? From sleeping to studying, here are some of the top ways audiobooks can help you out!

Speed reading or revising texts you’ve already read

Listening back to parts of a text you didn’t fully understand the first time or as a part of your revision can help you really take in and re-familiarise yourself with the important stuff. Also, if you learn best by having concepts explained aloud to you, using audiobooks as a teaching voice can be great to help you focus, with the added bonus of being pause-able and skippable, so you can jump in and out of the book while you’re studying, pausing to make notes and repeating sections whenever you need!

Getting an idea of tone/humour and inflection in texts where this is important, i.e., plays or poems

If you’re studying a play, poem, letter, or other text wherein the tone and inflexions on the words are an important part of how you respond to the work, listening to an audiobook version can be super helpful! You can listen along to specific parts for close analysis and using an audiobook you might pick up on the rhythm of the piece, alliteration, or other use of word sound you might otherwise have missed.

As a sleep aid or to help wind down

Whether you choose an old favourite you’ve read hundreds of times or look for something new or find a story designed to lull you off to sleep, audiobooks can be a great sleep aid or to help you relax. Popping in your headphones while you’re on a walk, tidying your space or even meditating can be great to help you wind down at the end of the day, giving your mind something to softly focus on. Equally, there are heaps of different apps out there that feature sleep stories to help you drift off, if you struggle with your sleep pattern, they could be just right to help you get back on track.

For support alongside your reading

Audiobooks can be a really helpful tool for students with dyslexia or issues with reading as they can support your reading when listening along as you go. You can also slow down and speed up audiobooks, so you can work at your own pace through the text and switch settings or revisit more challenging spots easily. Equally, for students whose first language isn’t English or who are studying a second language, audiobooks can be a great help. Audiobooks usually have a wide range of language options and some also offer translated subtitles along with the reading of the book, while also often being a fair bit cheaper than finding physically translated copies.