Audiobooks more engaging than films or television

Listening to audiobooks elicits a more intense physiological and emotional reaction than watching films or television, according to a new UCL study. Commissioned by Audible, UCL research psychologists tested scenes from well-known stories across crime, sci-fi, fantasy, action and classical genres on 102 participants aged 18 to 55 to gauge the physiological impact of auditory versus visual storytelling mediums. Audiobooks selected for the study include Game of Thrones; Girl on the Train; Silence of the Lambs; Pride and Prejudice and Great Expectations. The findings suggest that listening to audiobooks increases the emotional impact of stories over watching them on a screen. Dr Joseph Devlin (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences) said: "The results clearly show that listening to audiobooks produces a stronger emotional reaction to the content than watching it on a screen, yet when the participants were surveyed after the exercise they assumed they had been less engaged. This could be an exciting development for the industry." The study measured heart rate, body temperature and skin conductance when listening to audiobooks compared to watching scenes from films and television selected for their similarity in emotional intensity, comparative length and narrative. The findings were consistent across different stories, participant ages and demographics, and showed that audiobooks produced more consistent patterns of physiological change than films or TV clips.