Feel Strongly About Narration Speed? You’re Not Alone.

“What narration speed do you listen at?”

It seems a simple question, yet little spurs more spirited discussion among our customers — and our employees! – than the topic of narration speed. When it comes to listening, it’s clear we all have personal preferences about the content, location, activities and, yes, speech rate involved.

So we dug into the data to see what it reveals about listening habits and preferences. While 1.0x speed remains the most popular, don’t despair, faster listeners. About 7% of our customers have tried 1.5x speed or greater, with 1.2x and 1.5x being the next most common choices after 1.0x. What listening speed is used the least? .07x.

Interestingly, nonfiction content is just as likely to be consumed at higher speeds as fiction, with erotica and romance the most likely genre to be listened to at 1.5x, followed closely by business and careers at 1.4x. Evidently, listeners like to take in as much love and career wisdom as they can get!

Whatever the preferred narration speed it’s on offer to our customers because, in the end, it’s that passionate love for listening that truly brings us together.