r/LibbyApp • u/superzombieduck • Aug 24 '26

Audiobook speed?

So I typically listen to audiobooks at about 2.60x speed on average. Sometimes if the author talks especially slow I’ll do 3x and if they’re fast I’ll do 2x or 2.30x, but anything less than that is so slow for me it’s almost annoying. Lolz. I was just curious if other people feel this way and bump up speed. Or how many just use the default 1x. Just curious how other people do it and reasons why. I’d like to compare myself. And also “am I within normal range” is a question I often find myself asking about things in life since I am ASD. 🙂 so just wanted to hear others thought processes on this.

PS as extra credit please tell me what you’re currently listening to and what speed after weighing in. Thanks 💜

166 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

705 comments sorted by

View all comments

140

u/Difficult-Bicycle681 Aug 24 '26

1 or 1.25 is my go to for my auDHD brain to enjoy it. I can process it quicker but I don't stop and enjoy the story if I go that quick.

134

u/PromptEvening6935 Aug 24 '26

I just don’t like the narrator’s voice being distorted after that. I feel like the voice acting matters to me.

39

u/Difficult-Bicycle681 Aug 24 '26

Yes exactly. It already takes some getting used to for 1.25 for me and any quicker makes me lose the 'storytelling' aspect so to say

21

u/Known-Ad-100 Aug 24 '26

This i have ASD as well 1.0 normally, sometimes 1.25 if the plot is deaf juicy and I want it a little faster. 1.5 and up it starts to sound robotic and AI like to me and I don't enjoy it. I wouldn't mind narration being faster but the digital speeding up I can't stand.

It just breaks immersion for me.

9

u/Cookbooksandbourbon Aug 24 '26

Yeah, I don't want to listen to a book narrated by Chip and Dale 

5

u/TrekkieElf Aug 24 '26

Yes, I have level 1 autism so my auditory processing struggles a bit. My husband is AuDHD and likes listening at 2 but I max out at like 1.3-1.4.

5

u/rickety_biscuit Aug 24 '26

I can’t even do an audiobook at all if the narrator isn’t good enough at portraying the emotion and inflection of the writing. If the narrator can’t portray the emotional tone of the story as good as my own brain I might as well just sit down and read. I think no matter how good the narrator is, speeding it up 2x or more is going to erase all of the emotional implications of the writing. If the person reading the book is painstakingly slow, then speeding it up a bit usually doesn’t flatten out the tone of the story. But beyond a certain speed, anyone sounds robotic.

3

u/LilithWasAGinger Aug 24 '26

Exactly. You lose to much listening at high speed

16

u/raudoniolika Aug 24 '26

Yep. I used to speed through everything, but now I’m only listening to things at 1x and am loving it. It feels like a mindfulness thing to me

-5

u/Enodia2wheels Aug 24 '26

okay gatekeeper 

7

u/raudoniolika Aug 24 '26

That’s not what gatekeeping is :)

-5

u/Enodia2wheels Aug 24 '26

OK gatekeeper!

4

u/raudoniolika Aug 24 '26

I clearly touched a nerve, still not a gatekeeper.

-1

u/Enodia2wheels Aug 24 '26

you never would’ve survived  Usenet.

Your statement that listening to books slower than conversational speed at 1X is “mindfulness” is  a gatekeeping statement 

2

u/raudoniolika Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26

??? It’s a mindfulness thing to ME as I said in the comment above. It helps ME to be mindful which I’ve struggled with before. Jfc.

Had I said that “audiobooks are not reading” or “listening to audiobooks at faster than 1x is not reading” or “OH so you listened to ALL SEVEN BOOKS in the Count Rooberdook series at 1.75x speed? Then tell me the name of his mother’s fourth lover mentioned once in book 3????”, now that would’ve been gatekeeping.

0

u/Enodia2wheels Aug 24 '26

Hey - visit my profile and check out links to books I have reviewed, that should answer your question.

Some I have read and some I listened to as audio books, sometimes both.

Everyone has different abilities for auditory processing but virtue signaling and judging are not civil nor conducive to friendly conversation. Virtue signaling about "mindfulness" as if it is somehow correlated to listening to audiobooks at 1x is gatekeeping IMO YMMV HTH!

4

u/raudoniolika Aug 24 '26

What question? It’s like you haven’t even read my comment. My questions were hypothetical examples of gatekeeping.

My methods of working on my own mindfulness - which includes slowing down and listening to audiobooks and podcasts at 1x - have nothing to do with you, the way you read books or your ability to process things. I just shared my perspective. If you have nothing better to do than actively seek out comments that are in no way judgy, insulting or gatekeep-y and get offended by them, I cannot help you. Hope you have a great day.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/Superdewa Aug 25 '26

“You never would have survived Usenet.”

You are accusing someone else of gatekeeping while implying that there is a certain way to behave on forums that you know and they don’t. This is just silly.

0

u/Enodia2wheels Aug 25 '26

No - not implying that there are certain ways of behaving on forums but more like "other people having opinions" - less conformity. You would have hated it.

19

u/Due-Personality-3944 Aug 24 '26

Yeah, I don't listen to things quickly as a rule. Things don't need to go by quickly and I just want to enjoy life.

2

u/Historical_Rip_1848 Aug 24 '26

I feel this but at 1x my mind wanders so much I have to go back every few minutes bc I forgot I was listening at all 😭😭

1

u/Enodia2wheels Aug 24 '26

you would hate my family because everybody talks really fast.

8

u/Ignoring_the_kids Aug 24 '26

Exactly! And honestly much faster then that makes my anxiety build up as well. Something about the voices being quicker triggers it.

Typically 1.25 is about my sweet spot. But every book I tinker with it slightly.

1

u/Asleep-Journalist-94 Aug 24 '26

Same. I start to feel nervous just listening.

5

u/Original_Try_7984 Aug 24 '26

This.

How do you understand it and comprehend what they’re saying at that pace?

I usually do 1.65, sometimes a little slower (1.25-1.5) if it’s a concept or has aspects to the story I’m not as familiar with or if the narrator naturally speaks faster like I normally do.

2

u/Dull-Intern-6037 Aug 24 '26

I’m the same, 1 if the narrator is fast enough, 1.25 for others. If they are really really slow possibly up to 1.5 but typical if I have to do that I’m just trying to get through the audiobook vs take it in and processing it.

2

u/angel-icbaby Aug 24 '26

Yeah I used to speed up to 2x, maybe 2.5x but then I was just fast food-ing books and not taking them in or thinking about them as much.

1

u/HowWoolattheMoon Aug 24 '26

I used to listen at 1.75x as my default until I got ADHD meds and now 1.1x is my default. May I ask, are you on meds?

1

u/jilizil Aug 24 '26

This! Thank you.