Create your own audiobooks

Audiobooks are very popular these days. They can be a great travel companion for adults on busy commuter trains, but children can also benefit from listening to recorded books. Book reading is the key to fantasy and adventure for children (and adults) and while the benefits of reading text have long been documented, listening to audiobooks is relatively in its infancy. Thankfully, the National Literacy Trust, in February 2020 published a review of all the latest research into the benefits of children listening to pre-recorded stories. Apart from giving children, especially younger ones who cannot yet read by themselves, access to many different books, research shows that audiobooks expose children to new vocabulary and can boost their reading skills and emotional intelligence.

At AVUK we have a long history of using audiobooks (initially on cassettes!) with our children. This is because listening to a recorded voice introduces a new set of challenges to a child who has to depend on hearing technology to access sound. This is why we are encouraging parents, grandparents and other family members, to start off by creating their own audiobooks for their children. Children will find listening to a familiar voice and a familiar story a lot easier to understand initially and in doing so you are scaffolding your child’s access to this medium that relies heavily on the listening experience. With the use of today’s state-of-the-art hearing aids and cochlear implants, children are able to hear all of the speech sounds needed to develop an understanding of spoken language through listening. When using audiobooks we must ensure that the child is receiving an optimal signal from the audio device via their hearing technology. You may wish to connect the hearing aid to the audio device via their radio aid or via Bluetooth for devices that support such connections. Whatever it is, remember to keep background noise down to a minimum.

Create your own audiobooks

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Listen to our free audiobook of Violet's story

Violets_Story_Audiobook.mp3

If you would like to pre-order the hardcopy of Violet's Story (£4.50 plus shipping costs), please email [email protected]. 

For more information about the use of audiobooks with children, visit the National Literacy Trust.

 

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Storyskimo

Storyskimo is a digital platform of audio stories and podcasts for children is providing free access to parents. Audiobooks are a great way of developing the listening brain. 

Visit Storyskimo