[nabs-l] Tips For Using Audio Version Of Textbooks?

[Roper, Meaghan]

Hi Miso,

I have been using audiobooks for years. I find that when you are reading textbooks, you will have a more successful studying endeavor if you listen to the books at lower speeds. Generally screen readers or book readers are set at 100%, and anything above that is considered increased speed. I don't recommend going any higher than 175% when reading a textbook. When listening to a computerized voice, like on the Bookshare app Read2Goc I find that listening to the voice at a lower speed helps me to understand the reader. Computerized voices don't have distinct tones, or at least not as distinct as human tones. Also, sometimes the computerized voices can miss read specific pronunciations as words, such as the words "live" or "read" which have different pronunciations depending on the context. Finally, if you have a device that allows you to change the tone of the reader, I find that having lower tones and deeper voices make the reader easier to interpret on higher speeds. I think that about covers it for my tips and tricks, my only other suggestion would be to try and find your books on BARD or a site that has Daisy files recorded by human voice. Human voice tends to be easier to listen to, especially when studying. You can often find popular books (generally your English literature text books and novels) on BARD. I hope these tips help.

-Meaghan