What neuroscience says about reading versus listening

Listening to podcasts or audiobooks uses different parts of the brain to those that are engaged when you read something. In certain instances, taking in information aurally is more difficult. By Stephanie N del Tufo

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Let's start with a thought experiment: Close your eyes and imagine what the future might look like in a few hundred years.

Are people intergalactic travellers zooming between galaxies? Maybe we live in spaceships, underwater worlds or on planets with purple skies.

Now, picture your bedroom as a teenager of the future. There's probably a glowing screen on the wall. And when you look out the window, maybe you see Saturn's rings, Neptune's blue glow or the wonders of the ocean floor. Now ask yourself: is there a book in the room?

Open your eyes. Chances are, there's a book nearby. Maybe it's on your nightstand or shoved under your bed. Some people have only one; others have many.

You still find books today, even in a world filled with podcasts. Why is that? If we can listen to almost anything, why does reading still matter?

As a language scientist, I study how biological factors and social experiences shape language. My work explores how the brain processes spoken and written language, using tools like MRI scans and EEG tests, which measure electrical activity in the brain.

Whether reading a book or listening to a recording, the goal is the same: understanding. But these activities aren't exactly alike. Each supports comprehension in different ways. Listening doesn't provide all the benefits of reading, and reading doesn't offer everything listening does. Both are important, but they are not interchangeable.

Different brain processes