Immersive Reading Helps People Fall in Love with Books Again
People take in the world using their five senses – seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. But, different senses play varying roles in different tasks. For example, when watching a movie, you listen, hear, and see the storyline. By contrast, when reading a book, you do so with your eyes alone.
NPR reports that Immersive reading, a TikTok trend that is rapidly growing in popularity, seeks to add another sense to the reading experience. During immersive reading, bookworms connect to audiobooks, while simultaneously thumbing through physical copies. This helps readers stay focused, keeps them engrossed in the plot, and encourages them to read more.
@bailees_bookshelf Immersive reading is my favorite way to read now. Give me an audiobook and the physical book or ebook and I am SAT. #BookTok #booktokfyp #tandemread #audiobook #booksoftiktok
Audio vs Print
Maryanne Wolf, a neuroscientist at UCLA, explains the benefits of immersive reading to NPR. She says that reading, rather than listening, to a book, supports greater overall comprehension.
“When I look at audio, whether it’s audio with or without print mediums,” Wolf says, “the reality is that the print reading medium in and of itself gives more time, more attention to the development and maintenance of these deep reading processes.”
Carol Feldman, an 80-year-old retired nurse, says. “Just listening to an audiobook, I can’t concentrate. My mind just goes a million different ways and I totally lose track of the story.”
The immersive reading trend, Wolf explains, is beneficial because it encourages more people to engage with physical (or digital) books.
Keeping Readers Focused
Another benefit of the trend is that it helps readers concentrate. Feldman shares that, “Reading the words themselves as [the book is] being read to me allows me to focus on the story.”
A press release from Audible, a leading audiobook vendor, backs up this finding, reporting that their users who practice immersive reading are much more engaged and consume more books per month than those who only use the audiobook version. These customers also report greater focus, comprehension, and retention.
@infictionwetrustpodcast When you find flaws during immersive reading. Anyone had this happen before? It’s such a big difference! #booktok #quicksilver #immersivereading #audiobooks #calliehart
Audible is responding to this increased interest in audiobooks, literacy and immersion with a new feature wherein users can sync their Kindle digital book libraries with their Audible audiobook libraries.
When users own both versions of a book, the new feature integrates the two, presenting the reader with both versions simultaneously and even syncing the pages while readers interact with the text/audio.
“Audiobooks count as reading,” Andy Tsao, the CPO at Audible explains in the press release. “But now at Audible, you can read with your eyes too. Read & Listen gives book lovers the best of both worlds. Whether you’re learning a new language, studying for school, or lost in a story’s world, you no longer have to choose one format over the other.”
Some Books are Meant to be Read Aloud
A Washington Post deep dive into the immersive reading trend, explains that it is especially beneficial with texts that are meant to be spoken. Poetry, for example, especially older poems like Shakespeare’s sonnets, can only be understood when read slowly or aloud.
Similarly, dialogue in some novels, especially those with dialects, truly come to life when a talented audiobook narrator performs them using the character’s accent, manner, and affect.
Combining the print and audio versions, help readers relive the plot while also following and comprehending it.
Supporting Students
Immersive reading not only allows hobby readers to comprehend books more deeply, it also has a place in the classroom. Readers with dyslexia, who struggle to connect sounds to words, benefit from this trend whereby they see and hear the words at the same time.
@everydaydyslexia Immersion reading has been huge for us. Not cheap, but powerful for kids who need audio + text together. Follow along this week as I share our favorite assistive technology tools. #strugglingreaders #assistivetechnology #specialeducation #parentadvocacy #learningdifferences
Immersive reading helps students with ADHD focus and supports early literacy development. NPR adds that many teachers use this strategy in the classroom to support their young or struggling readers.
Outside the classroom, the trend is taking off among readers of all ages. TikTok searches for immersive reading increased 13 times in the last year and ten times in the last six months alone.
Immersive reading is responsible for a renaissance in interest in reading print and digital books.. By helping readers stay focused, understand more, and enjoy books longer, this growing trend is turning more listeners into readers, and more readers into lifelong book lovers.
