In terms of memory of the story (or information), how does an audio book stack up to a paper (or electronic) one?

I find things read remembered better than things heard, but that could just be me =]

I can’t listen to audio books. They put me to sleep. So I’d say the difference is extraordinary.

I can listen to them, however, I am not an auditory learner. I tend to block out so much of it that I have to go back and re-listen. It’s not worth it for me.

My son has extraodinary auditory abilities. I can put an audio boook on for him while he draws and he’ll hear the entire book.

I am not an auditory learner. I have always had trouble hearing the sounds correctly, and reading came naturally to me.

Paper generally works better for me as I can go at my own pace and repeat any difficult passages. Audio books use different voices and sound effects to make a story memorable but nothing beats the imagination when presented with good writing.

I process visually, and I reread passages, make marginal notations, underline, highlight, flip back to check details and mark contradictions, use and annotate indexes, and bookmark with stickers. And mark typos and egregious errors of grammar and diction. So it’s bound paper books for me, now and forever.

However, I do love to be read to. This hasn’t changed since childhood. I sacrifice something in comprehension and continuity for the pleasure of hearing a story. I don’t use audiobooks. My husband reads to me.

I can’t learn or take in what I hear, I have to read it to retain it.

I listen to stories that I’ve already read. Anything else and I just fall asleep.

I am a visual person. Show me a page and I can remember it, possibly for years; recite a sentence and I may forget the first word by the time you get to the fifth word.