How to get the best audiobooks for dyslexia

Audiobooks make reading accessible to dyslexic students and anyone else with learning disabilities or reading difficulties. Listening is one of the best ways to absorb information and enjoy entertaining stories if reading creates confusion, and audiobooks can also make people want to read more when used correctly.

Understanding dyslexia: A brief overview

Before we delve into the benefits of audiobooks, it is essential to have a basic understanding of dyslexia. Dyslexia is when someone finds it hard to read, spell, or understand written words. It’s not because they’re not smart or not trying hard enough. Their brain just works a bit differently when it comes to reading. Many people have dyslexia, about 1 in every 10 people. It’s one of the many learning differences out there.

What it’s like to read with dyslexia

Reading with dyslexia can be tough. Words and letters might look mixed up, making it hard to understand what’s written. This can make someone feel upset and not very excited about reading.

Imagine going to the New York public library, picking up a book, and seeing the letters move around. Every word feels like a tricky puzzle. It’s like trying to see clearly in a thick fog.

People with dyslexia often feel tired when they read. They have to work hard to figure out each word, which can make them feel worn out.

How dyslexia affects learning

Dyslexia doesn’t just make reading hard. It can also make spelling, writing, and staying organized tough. This can make schoolwork a challenge. Sometimes, someone with dyslexia might feel left behind.

Imagine being in school, maybe even using a Kindle to read, and finding it hard to keep up with everyone else. While friends write down notes easily, you might struggle with even simple things. Spelling can feel like a tricky game, and writing might mean lots of erasing and starting over. Keeping track of homework, tests, and other school stuff can also be hard.

But there’s good news! Audiobooks, or as some call them, audio dyslexia tools, can help people with dyslexia a lot.

The magic of audiobooks

Audiobooks, including audio textbooks for dyslexics, are great for people with dyslexia. Instead of reading, they can listen to stories and information. This means they don’t have to worry about mixed-up letters or words.

When they listen to audiobooks, they can enjoy stories without any problems. The words are clear and easy to understand.

Listening to audiobooks can also help people learn new words and how to say them. They can hear how words sound and how sentences flow. This can help them speak and write better.

Audiobooks also let people with dyslexia feel more independent. They don’t need someone else to read to them or help them with words. They can pick any book they like and listen to it on their own.

And the best part? Audiobooks are easy to take anywhere. Thanks to devices like Kindle and other platforms, someone can have lots of books with them all the time. They can listen to books wherever they go, making it easy to keep learning and enjoying stories.

How dyslexic people benefit from audiobooks

Reading skills improve through constant exercise and repetition. Due to the challenges people with dyslexia encounter when trying to read on their own, they rarely want to read more. Fortunately, audiobooks can make it more comfortable to expand vocabulary, language comprehension, and even world knowledge through reading.

Audiobooks are great for entertainment, school, and multitasking, but what can really help people with dyslexia and reading disabilities is using audio as an accessibility tool while focusing on the written word. This is where text to speech software can assist.

People with dyslexia can use TTS software to hear an accurate narration of the written text as they read along at various reading speeds. It enables people to maintain rich exposure to literature, practice reading skills, boost self-esteem, and stay focused on assignments.

Best sources of audiobooks for dyslexic students

Certain audiobook services have more dyslexia-friendly resources and materials than others. If you want to read more or help someone be a better reader, the following tools can be of service.

LibriVox

LibriVox is a nonprofit service that converts public-domain books into audiobooks in various languages. It’s a great place to find audiobooks of classic stories that dyslexic people can listen to while also reading the text in a digital or physical format.

You can download many literary works and textbooks from LibriVox and listen to them while reading the material from your favorite device. It’s one of the top free audiobook services for dyslexic kids, high school students, and avid readers without a local library card.

Audible

Audible is an Amazon service dedicated to helping everyone from avid audiobook lovers to dyslexic children enjoy best sellers. It’s among the best audiobook services for children’s books, fiction and nonfiction material, and podcasts.

A subscription-based service, Audible can help those with reading disabilities and related conditions like ADHD and dyslexia access audio versions of books and read along at different speeds.

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is another service focused on creating audiobooks of classic literary works. It offers a mix of human-narrated and computer-generated audiobooks that can help students improve their language decoding skills.

It works similarly to LibriVox and relies heavily on contributions from volunteers.

Simply Audiobooks

Simply Audiobooks is an audiobook service containing bestsellers, classics, and many other audiobooks in MP3 and M4B formats. Users can subscribe and exchange credits for books, buy books directly from the marketplace, or rent the titles they need.

It’s a service friendly to learners and audiobook lovers who want more options for accessing audiobook versions of diverse literary works.

Bookshare

Bookshare is another interesting solution for people with dyslexia. It uses text to speech software to generate audiobooks using synthesized voices. Users can use Bookshare on iOS and Android devices and benefit from text highlighting and playback speed adjustments.

The read-along feature makes it one of the better audiobook services for learners and educators. However, Bookshare has fewer free audiobooks compared to similar services.

Learning Ally

Learning Ally has one of the largest collections of audio textbooks. The platform is one of the best for educators, parents, and students looking for dyslexia-friendly audiobooks and educational material.

The platform even provides a subscription service and an app with an e-reader designed for people with dyslexia. Along with 75,000 audiobooks, the app offers adjustable background and text colors and text highlighting to make reading easier and improve fluency.

Speechify can help combat dyslexia

Speechify is a text to speech (TTS) reader that uses complex machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence to create human-like narrations from written words. The software can transform anything—from Word docs to PDF files, scanned images of textbooks, and illustrations—into speech.

A powerful e-reader, Speechify has adjustable reading speeds, dyslexia-friendly fonts, text highlighting, bookmarking, note-taking features, and so much more. It’s a step above traditional audiobook apps because its focus is to make reading and listening simultaneously straightforward for users with dyslexia, ADHD, reading disabilities, and visual impairment. You can use it on the go, at home, and at the office.

The assistive technology is just as helpful to audiobook lovers and students who want to avoid falling behind or need to improve their focus and language skills. Whether studying a particular subject or learning a new language, Speechify has users covered on almost all major operating systems and devices.

You can try Speechify now to turn the most complex reading materials into easy-to-follow audiobooks.

FAQ

What is a dyslexia-friendly book?

Dyslexia-friendly books typically use sans serif fonts, non-white backgrounds, and custom formatting. They differ from regular books by reducing or eliminating common letter and word symmetries that confuse dyslexic readers.

What works best for dyslexia?

Text to speech software like Speechify is one of the best tools for managing and overcoming dyslexia. The combination of reading aloud and following written text with dyslexia-friendly fonts and formatting makes it easier to read and understand words.

Do dyslexics have high IQ?

Dyslexia has no impact on intelligence and IQ. It only makes the act of reading difficult, but it does not affect a person’s intelligence.

What are the symptoms of dyslexia?

Dyslexia has many symptoms. Starting to speak later in life and difficulty learning new words are among the most common signs. Problems with forming words or remembering letters and numbers can also indicate dyslexia.

Can dyslexia be cured?

Dyslexia can’t be cured, but people with dyslexia can learn to manage their symptoms better through assistive technology like text to speech software and continuous reading practice.