Audiobooks surge as travel favorite, helping fuel debate over what 'counts' as reading

Since 2016, the percentage of Americans who listen to audiobooks daily has risen from 3% to 8% - a 167% increase - according to Edison Research. And 51% of adults say they have listened to an audiobook at least once, according to the Audio Publishers Association's 2025 consumer survey.

Others, however, argue the suggestion that audiobooks "don't count" feels dismissive.

While she wishes she had time to sit and read an actual book, audiobooks better suit her busy life. 

"Telling me that's not reading as I listen to stories about dragons, fairies, knights and gnolls is just not true," Smith told Fox News Digital.

Some experts agree, while others argue that the distinction is not so simple.

"But it has been shown that when some people listen to words, they visualize them, so the letter box gets activated." 

Both listening and reading can activate the brain's main language comprehension systems, agreed Emily Levy, a literacy expert and founder of EBL Coaching, which serves New York and New Jersey.

"When someone listens to an audiobook or reads print, the comprehension parts of the brain show similar activation," Levy told Fox News Digital. 

Yet she cautions that calling the two experiences identical would be an oversimplification.

"If a child needs to build their decoding or reading fluency skills, listening to audiobooks won't do the trick," Levy said.

That nuance is often lost in online debates, where opinions can be strong and deeply personal.

Zack Barnes, an associate professor of literacy at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, considers audiobooks a legitimate form of reading.

"When we are listening to an audiobook, you are still trying to extract meaning from the text that is being read aloud to you," Barnes said. "You are still doing a complex cognitive task by listening to audiobooks."

Barnes added that audiobooks can serve as a gateway, motivating some listeners to pick up a physical book and build actual reading stamina.

"Instead, we should be examining how each type of media impacts cognition during the process of absorbing information," Hutchins, based in Nashville, told Fox News Digital.

He notes that reading print allows a person to control pace, reread passages and even remember where information appeared on a page.

"Audios connect us to our past traditions of hearing a voice tell a story," Hutchins said. "Printed materials anchor our minds in analytical thinking."

Experts agree that the debate should therefore shift away from whether audiobooks "count" as reading and toward what listeners want to gain from the experience.

"I'm proud of my audiobook listens," she said.