Listening to audiobooks has become a popular pastime for drivers to educate and entertain themselves as they travel about. However, some drivers are still puzzled about how to listen to audiobooks or how to do so safely while paying attention to the road. Here are three key ways to make listening to audiobooks in the car easier:
1: Infotainment Systems
The best way for anyone to listen to audiobooks is through an infotainment system found in the new vehicles. Many of the infotainment systems in vehicles, such as Apple CarPlay and Android AutoPlay, make it easy to request audiobooks and play them through the car’s stereo system.
You can simply ask Siri or Alexa to find a particular audiobook for you or preload them on your smartphone to prompt the software to play the book on command.
2: Bluetooth
Most modern car stereos are compatible with Bluetooth. Bluetooth is a wireless protocol that allows your smartphone to communicate with connected devices. Setting up Bluetooth is as easy as finding the feature on your smartphone and connecting to the device you want to play your audiobook through.
You may have to reconnect your smartphone to the device from scratch every time you stop and restart the vehicle. Whereas, a more sophisticated infotainment system may automatically connect with your cellphone without any further interaction.
3: Auxiliary Port
The AUX, aka Auxiliary Port, is a feature that can be found on most audio systems that don’t have Bluetooth. The AUX port looks like a headphone jack and allows drivers to plug one end of an AUX cable into the radio jack and the other end into their smartphone.
Always check to see what file formats are compatible with your sound system. Some may not support WMA or MP3 file formats that audiobooks are typically distributed in.
Choosing the Right Story
It is important to focus on safety and pick titles that are light and easy to understand. Drivers may become distracted if the audiobook is a heavy read that requires a lot of thought and attention to grasp.
However, if you are the type of person who can listen to talk radio and NPR news for hours on end while driving, educational materials are not out of the question. Many drivers will be able to concentrate on driving and learn something by giving minimal attention to what they are hearing.
Finding stories that are repetitive and that you can listen to over and over again to get all the details out of them is the best. The news on the radio is often repetitive and provides different angles of discourse that are just different points on the same subject matter. When the topic is consistent, it is easier for listeners to follow without feeling like they missed some major turn in the plot.
Studies show that classical music is actually one of the hardest things to listen to when driving and causes the most accidents. This may be due to the changing tempos and orchestration enveloping the mind with floral and erratic melodies.
