At what speed do you listen to audio books on Audible?

[FrugalSaver]

I think 1.5x is about as fast as I can listen and retain the information being shared.

Anyone go any faster?  Any tips for how to listen and understand faster?  I'm typically listening while driving to work.

[ospreyjp]

I mostly listen to novels and non-fiction history on my daily one hour (each way) commute.  As listening to the books is something I do for entertainment, I find that listening to the narration at the speed it was originally recorded is best for me.  Some of the narrators are really quite dramatic in their readings, so it would be a shame to turn their voices into helium-sounding recordings. 

[dogboyslim]

I don't listen to Audible anymore, but when I did, I liked 1.25.  I listen for recreation not for detail recall.

[CptCool]

I mostly listen to fiction & prefer 1.3x (using a different app than audible). I've tried faster & it just sounds too weird having it so high-pitched. I've also realized I usually repeat everything in my head when I'm listening, & have a hard time keeping up if it goes higher than 1.5x as well

[Cromacster]

I haven't gotten into audio books, but I do find speeding up podcasts to be weird.  I don't enjoy listening, it makes me feel frantic.

I mostly listen to novels and non-fiction history on my daily one hour (each way) commute.  As listening to the books is something I do for entertainment, I find that listening to the narration at the speed it was originally recorded is best for me.  Some of the narrators are really quite dramatic in their readings, so it would be a shame to turn their voices into helium-sounding recordings.

Does the Audible app do this?  On most modern audio apps the pitch doesn't change I didn't think the pitch changed

[Samuel]

Normal (1x). Can't stand spoken word sped up like that.

[mathlete]

Normal (1x). Can't stand spoken word sped up like that.

Same. Maybe I'd get it if it is something like a lecture.

But so much is communicated in cadence and pregnant pauses. I just find it obnoxious if it is sped up.

[TigreFeliz]

I think 1.5x is about as fast as I can listen and retain the information being shared.

Anyone go any faster?  Any tips for how to listen and understand faster?  I'm typically listening while driving to work.

I'll be the odd man out and admit to enjoying my audio at a higher speed.  I listen to podcasts, not audiobooks, but I listen to them at 2x speed normally.  I use the pocketcasts app, which lets me adjust by increments of .1.  When I decided to try increasing my speed, I did it at intervals of .1, and spent at least a few weeks at each increment.  By doing it that way, I barely even noticed the increase.  Now, most podcasts sound relatively normal at 2x speed.

I do reduce the speed for foreign language podcasts (I actually listen to those at .9x, so a little slower than normal), any podcasts with music (1x), and some very information dense podcasts, like the History of Rome (I retain the most at about 1.7x).