Interesting! Is there any research on the effects of audiobooks on kids’ skills? I remember the magic of lying in bed at night listening to stories from a cassette player, and consider the experience to have been a gateway to a love of reading, but I understand that disconnecting these stories from written words and pictures could make them less impactful. For all I know, they’re no better than tv! Just got my kids Yotos, so I hope not.😂
Just like you I have wonderful memories of being read to and listening to audiobooks, and have a gut instinct that it's way better than TV because it doesn't "do all the work" for your brain -- you have to listen, piece words together, imagine things. Oh my gosh I just love the experience so much I'd only really worry about it if my kids were spending ALL their time on audiobooks and never took any interest in print books, which is not a problem I've ever heard of anyone having haha.
I remember reading that any sounds unattached from action or pictures or a response from a person can delay language (such as ambient TV). But this was just for littles, pre-language.
Interesting! Is there any research on the effects of audiobooks on kids’ skills? I remember the magic of lying in bed at night listening to stories from a cassette player, and consider the experience to have been a gateway to a love of reading, but I understand that disconnecting these stories from written words and pictures could make them less impactful. For all I know, they’re no better than tv! Just got my kids Yotos, so I hope not.😂
Great question! This review looks like there's quite a bit of evidence they can be helpful but more research is needed: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-021-09653-2#Sec9
Emily Oster cites this paper in The Family Firm and concludes audiobooks are awesome for kids but it's a master's thesis and the review above doesn't cite it, which I find puzzling, so I'd have to dig in more to synthesize: https://nwcommons.nwciowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1078&context=education_masters
Just like you I have wonderful memories of being read to and listening to audiobooks, and have a gut instinct that it's way better than TV because it doesn't "do all the work" for your brain -- you have to listen, piece words together, imagine things. Oh my gosh I just love the experience so much I'd only really worry about it if my kids were spending ALL their time on audiobooks and never took any interest in print books, which is not a problem I've ever heard of anyone having haha.
I remember reading that any sounds unattached from action or pictures or a response from a person can delay language (such as ambient TV). But this was just for littles, pre-language.
All the studies are about ambient TV, not audiobooks though. https://www.speechsisters.com/blog/does-background-noise-interfere-with-language-development