Why podcasts and audiobooks are on the rise – sounds stimulate us more than images, experiment shows
- An experiment showed subjects had a greater reaction listening to scenes from Game of Thrones and Silence of the Lambs than watching them
- No wonder podcasts are so popular and a magnet for investors. Covid-19 accelerated their rise, as superusers working from home listened to them non-stop
Audio stimulates our brains more powerfully than video, and slots neatly into our new patterns of voracious cultural consumption – making this a revolutionary time for aural entertainment.
When Daniel Richardson, an experimental psychologist at University College London, wanted to compare the impact of audio and video on our brains, he turned for help to Hannibal Lecter and the people who chopped off Ned Stark’s head.
He wired up students and got them to watch classic scenes from Silence of the Lambs and Game of Thrones (the aforementioned decapitation), and then compared their reactions when they listened to the same scenes from the audiobook versions.
He found a contradiction: the students reported a stronger emotional response to the videos, but their bodies suggested otherwise.
“With audio, body temperature was higher, heart rate went up and down more, more electro-dermal activity which shows bodily arousal. Basically, their brains were churning over more and it was showing up in their physiology.”
