Comment by SXX | Hacker News Reader

Comment by SXX | Hacker News Reader

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So here is my own experience. I was avid audio book fan for last 3 years and while ago some guy on reddit told me about how he listen books on Audible using high-speed option like 2.x. I never tried that before last summer since at higher speed speech become incomprehensible for me.

What this guy told me is that it's just take time to adjust to it. So I basically started to listen for books at slightly higher speed. Then I gradually increased it and in a few days I could handle 2.0x speed no problem while listening for really complex fantasy (Malazan Book of the Fallen [1]). After two weeks I could handle 2.5x without a problem.

In the beginning it was harder to comprehend at high speed while walking or crossing the street since I lost attention, but in a few months I could do anything while listening without missing any information or emotions of narrator.

To give an example of how far this can go. This spring I was listening for The Expanse audiobook [2] at 4.0x speed. With some effort I could go even faster for like 5.x in case of these particular books, but obviously can not keep up for long.

I still usually listen books at 2.0-3.0x depend on narrator and quality of audio and this skill dont go away even if I have extended time between books like a month or so.

[1] https://www.audible.com/pd/Reapers-Gale-Audiobook/B00M4LRBY6

[2] https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Abaddons-Gate-Audiobook/B00T6NZ...

UPD: Edit. s/can keep up/can not keep up/

One thing I'd also like to develop / wish was integrated into audible and the like is silence trimming. Some speakers leave outsized pauses in their narration which can be significantly shortened effectively increasing speed with less distortion.

I have the opposite problem where I have trouble paying attention to an audiobook at 1x. I get bored in between words and my mind wanders making it very difficult to keep track of what is being said (as in I hear individual words but have trouble keeping sentences in memory when everything comes too slow)

I wish I had realized this in university and had been able to somehow record and playback lectures at 2x. I always got so little out of lectures because the information wasn't coming in fast enough for me to process correctly.

Overcast (a podcasting app) has great features to optimize the high speed listening experience. They have variable speed, a great silence trimmer, and a voice boost that makes speech clearer.

I just wish I could listen to arbitrary audio with Overcast. As it is I have a blog set up to feed Overcast audio that I give it, but it feels super clunky.

> One thing I'd also like to develop / wish was integrated into audible and the like is silence trimming.

I don't really use audible, but if you looking for good audio player on Android here is one that can do this:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.ph1b.audiob...

https://github.com/PaulWoitaschek/Voice

Can you include the app name? I'm blocked from both links.

Voice Audiobook Player

Blind people use screenreader software sped up so fast as to be indecipherable to untrained ears. The screenreader can give them near instantaneous feedback about where on the screen they are and what's there when it's so sped up, and with a bit of practice perceiving the sped-up speech imposes no burden at all.

I can tell from experience that when I lay down in my bed with my eyes closed I could comprehend speech at much higher speed than I would while walking on the street. No surprise blind people can handle it better even though I have no clue how exactly it work in relations to the brain.

I was always curios to make actual research / paper on this kind of thing, but as non-scientist I simply have no time to do so. So I happy someone actually doing it.

Ever had to turn the radio/music in your car off in some tricky situations?

I don't drive, but I get what you mean.

Concentration is crucial here.

Side question: I wonder if anyone has actually finished the entire Malazan series. It takes some serious dedication. I would be curious of the story still makes sense to you by the end when listening at that speed.

> Side question: I wonder if anyone has actually finished the entire Malazan series. It takes some serious dedication.

I only finished Malazan Book of the Fallen, first two Tales books and all The Path to Ascendancy books. Also started Forge of Darkness, but was too preoccupied with my life to finish it.

Honestly Esselmont books are just weaker overall. The Path to Ascendancy was much better, but 3rd book is just too rushed.

> I would be curious of the story still makes sense to you by the end when listening at that speed.

Speed have no effect on story at all. Basically after you practice it for a bit you even get every emotion narrator trying to put into his speech.

As for the story in general it's make more and more sense closer you get the the end. It's masterfully crafted world with great theme of compassion and even though I finished it more than a year ago I still have flashback or two from time to time since I loved some of characters. Malazan is certainly one of my favorite book series.

Yet keep in mind there is abundance of information and events as well as unreliable narrators which can confuse your view of story lines.

Not OP, but I am currently on Reaper's Gale.

Malazan quickly became my favourite book series (and I am not even a fan of fantasy). It was hard initially. But it gets better.

However, I think that re-read is a must if you want to fully grasp the whole thing.

Why would you want to do that though? Isn't the experience of listening to it the point? If not, why listen to it at all instead of reading a detailed summary?

  > Why would you want to do that though?

Because I don't just listen for books for enjoyment of process itself. I love complex stories with hundred of characters and plot lines across many books. Reading something like Malazan or Wheel of Time is like a journey into another world for me and I deeply immersed into these world while exploring them. Yet amount of free time I have is limited so getting more information in short period of time is very convenient

I totally get it when some people just love to read books slowly while enjoying their coffee or looking at nature, but I'm into books for the stories and format of fast-paced audio is fine for me.

  > Isn't the experience of listening to it the point? If not, why listen to it at all instead of reading a detailed summary?

I feel like you imply that by listening on high speed I miss some part of experience. Yet other than voices being just slightly distorted (after some practice it's the same voices, but faster) I get exactly the same experience as any person who listen or read unabridged book.

On other side detailed summaries are not the same thing that author designed, but someone else rehearsal which is usually far from perfect.

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