Listening to Audiobooks Is No CheatingThe question concerning the validity of listening to an audiobook compared to reading a physical book has been posed fairly often.Audiobooks are often seen as cheating because they are "easier,"even though from the perspective of cognitive psychology, there are virtually no differences between listening to a book and reading it.In a post on his blog, psychology professor Daniel Willingham explains a model of reading known as the "simple view."The simple view claims there are two processes that contribute to reading: decoding and language processing.The decoding is translating the letters into words that hold significance. The language processing is figuring out the story being told.Decoding and language processing are not vastly different for listening or reading comprehension.