Immersion Reading: Audiobooks and Ambiance
Woman wearing headphones while reading. Photo by Karolina Grabowska.
If you’re new to the blog, thanks for stopping by, and if you’re a returning reader, it’s nice to see you again! In this post we’re discussing the practice of immersive reading with audio. Does listening to music or white noise interfere with properly encoding information? Are audiobooks really books? While many argue that listening to an audiobook doesn’t really compare to reading a book, there’s something to be said about immersion reading—or reading text while listening to an audiobook simultaneously. By using two of the five senses, readers gain a richer reading experience and find it easier to get into the story.
So, if reading covers one sense—sight, and listening tackles a second—sound, then shouldn’t this foster a better reading experience?
Not exactly. Many readers argue that audiobooks are distracting to the story, or their reading pace differs from the reading pace of the voice actor, or the narrators read in strange voices for each character. These are all issues authors face when considering having their manuscripts formatted as an audiobook. While these are real issues for readers and authors alike, they still receive an overwhelmingly positive response, and here’s why:
There’s a new trend in the reading community called immersion reading. As defined above, immersion reading is when a book (or e-book) is read in tandem with an audiobook. This has helped many readers better get into the story and has fostered, for many, a richer reading experience.
Not all voice actors read character voices. If you’ve listened to George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire the first book in the Game of Thrones series, you know what it’s like listening to a narrator tell a story with character voices. Sometimes they nail the different character voices perfectly in timbre and tone. And at other times, it can be totally distracting and annoying. This is an issue for some because it doesn’t allow the reader’s imagination to create the characters’ voices, but instead spoon-feeds them a narrator-interpreted-and-performed character voice. However, this isn’t always bad; readers who want to focus on the writing and the content of the story won’t have to waste their time imagining voices if they hear them while they’re reading. Likewise, people who struggle with aphantasia may benefit from immersive reading with audio. According to the Cleveland Clinic, Aphantasia, or image-free thinking, is a cognitive characteristic that makes it difficult or even impossible for individuals visualize images in their mind. (Cleveland Clinic 2023) Since traditional reading often relies on mental imagery to enhance comprehension and engagement, those with aphantasia may struggle to create vivid mental pictures of scenes, characters, or abstract concepts. Readers who experience aphantasia may not be able to fully imagine the events of a story clearly in their mind, much less how each character looks and sounds. Want to learn more about aphantasia? Check out the Aphantasia Network resources in the Further Reading section at the end of this blog post.
By pairing text with audio narration, immersive reading provides additional sensory input, helping readers process and retain information through auditory cues. The tone, pacing, and emphasis in spoken narration can bring stories to life, compensating for the lack of mental visualization. Additionally, sound effects and background music in audiobooks can enhance emotional depth and atmosphere, making narratives more engaging. This multimodal approach can improve comprehension, memory retention, and overall reading enjoyment for individuals with aphantasia. That being said, a quick check in the reviews section of your audiobook will tell you if the narrator used character voices and if their performance overall was positively or negatively received.
The pacing can be changed to fit your natural reading speed. Readers often read at their own pace and many argue that audiobooks don’t read as fast/slow as they’d like. If you’re using an audiobooks app, there is typically a slider that allows you to change the narration speed without butchering the narrator’s voice.
Another way for readers to experience immersion reading is by playing music in the background of your reading space. No, I don’t mean Lady Gaga should be blasting while you’re reading your next high fantasy novel. Instead, you should put on music from the Slytherin Common Room at Hogwarts, or something fantasy-based. This helps drop the reader into the setting of the story and makes for a richer reading experience. A great place to find music like this is Ambient-mixer.com or on the Ambient Mixer app. This app allows the listener to create different sound loops and has a variety of looped tracks for any genre/setting.
The description of the Slytherin Common Room details what it’s like to listen to this audio:
“You are a 5th year at Hogwarts and you're sitting in the Slytherin Common Room trying to stay awake and study. But, you have never been a very studious person so your eyelids are getting heavy and you find yourself falling asleep in a brown recliner while two other Slytherins are able to stay awake with the aid of coffee. There aren't any windows for you to see outside, but since the common room is submerged under the lake you can faintly hear the sound of water just on the other side of the walls.” (QuoteRaven)
A screenshot of the Ambient Mixer Slytherin Common Room volume control panel. Photo by Payton Hayes.
A quote from the Ambient Mixer site describes what the site offers to listeners:
“Ambient-mixer.com is a community driven project offering you some unique quality soundscapes with different atmospheres for chilling, relaxing or your recordings using our endless audio loops. You can further effectively mix and create your own sounds absolutely free, with no software installations required. You can begin listening to our sounds by clicking on the images above, which are based on different themes. All atmospheres are royalty free audio files and you can use them even in your commercial projects, thanks to the Creative Commons Sampling Plus license.” (Ambient Mixer)
While not everyone supports the use of audiobooks over reading tangible books or even e-books, immersion reading is gaining traction and becoming more popular throughout the reading community.
Bibliography
Ambient Mixer. “What is this website all about?” (Homepage footer, paragraph 1).
Pavel Danilyuk (@pavel-danilyuk/). “A young woman with white headphones looking at a planner.” Pexels photo, March 12, 2021. (Thumbnail photo).
“QuoteRaven. “Slytherin Common Room.” Ambient Mixer Audio and Description, accessed May 3, 2019.
Cleveland Clinic. “Aphantasia.” Cleveland Clinic Definition, last reviewed on August 21, 2023.
Further Reading
“What is Immersive Reading and How Can It Help Me to Read Faster?” by Darren Van Soye, Nov 8, 2023.
“Listen Up! Why Audiobooks Count as Reading.” by Pernille Ripp, June 17, 2024.
“Is Audiobook Listening Considered “Reading”?” by Dianne Coan, accessed March 14, 2025.
“4 Powerful Pros and 4 Cons of Immersion Reading.” by Mark El-Ayat, May 16, 2024.
“What Is Aphantasia?” by The Aphantasia Network, accessed March 14, 2025.
“5 Ways to Enjoy Reading with Aphantasia.” by Bartholowmew Lander, May 15, 2021.
“Writing Fantasy Without a Mind’s Eye.” by Frank Shultz, June 11, 2024.
“How to Write with Aphantasia.” by Dustin Grinnell, June 30, 2021.
“Being a Writer When You Literally Cannot Visualize Scenes.” by Alexandra Oliva, April 8, 2021.
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Written by Payton Hayes | Last Updated: March 14, 2025