I’ve just gotten into audiobooks this year after never having been able to enjoy them for my whole life, and it’s been amazing. At first I just listened at the default 1x speed because it didn’t even occur to me to change it. Then I tried 1.2x and liked that much more. Then 1.5x was also very enjoyable and especially for dialogue feels so much more natural to how people actually speak.
BUT. This evening I turned on the audiobook for my current read to play while I read the physical copy simultaneously and wow!! The speed at which my eyes/brain read the written word is significantly faster than the audio narration, to the point where even 2x speed seemed too slow for the speed at which my internal narrator wanted to read the words. I kept finding my eyes getting ahead of the audiobook – even with it at 2x speed – and I had to force myself to slow down my visual reading to match the pace of the audiobook.
To be honest, it was a good excercise in getting myself to slow down and fully process the words (although I will never go back to 1x speed, it’s unbearable now).
I just thought it was interesting. I feel like we don’t realize how crazy fast our eyes can read written words until we compare it to someone speaking.
by FusRoDaahh