Your Concentration and liistening to Audio Books (music) ?

That is something I can not do while driving. Tried it several times to help me with my Thai.

Audiobooks are fine for me, but learning languages just takes up too much of my brain to still be able to concentrate on the road. Plus, I find myself having to rewind a lot which takes my eyes off the road for too long.

 

I'm a heavy podcast listener (they're sorta like audio books but different). Every week, when I am home, I download my pods and upload them to my mp3 player. On average, I listen to about 50-60 hrs of week of material. In other words, I have something on almost all of the time.

That being said, the times I turn it off or pause it, are times and places that require my full attention such as heavy traffic, on ramps, backing up, parking lots, customers property, manned or tight construction zones, extreme weather, or areas where I have to do some maneuvering. For those times I don't turn it off, Ihave found that I don't listen to it and will eventually have to rewind back to a point I last remember hearing.

 

I have a 160 gb IPod that has over 70gb of audio books on it. I find audio books less distracting than going down the road listening to my esteemed co workers arguing on the CB.

I always find a logical place to shut off the book when coming up to an exit I need to get off on and ride the last few miles in silence. There are also days when I've listened to over an hour of a book and have no clue what is going on, those are the days I just shut off the radio completely and ride in silence.

 

my brain always tunes out the radio when i get somewhere that my brain needs to focus more on the driving. hit bad traffic or get in a tight area once I'm cruising in the open i realize i just missed some of what i was listing too.

 

Im with the folks who say they keep their priority on the road regardless. If i get into heavy traffic or bad weather conditions i just automatically ignore the audiobook and find myself rewinding often for that reason.
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No big deal.

 

I had them on except when I was in traffic .I found that in bad weather they helped keep my nerves in check .Always pay attention to the driving first and all else will take care of its self

 

Did start to buy audio books but the town library has a great collection to borrow, not as if you would listen to them over and over. I listen to them all the time but I do find you don't listen when you are concentrating on the road in traffic and a lot of times you have to rewind to get the story.

 

I have converted all my books to mp3 and put them into 5 minute files so if you need to go back you can do so easy and only re listen to 5 minute,s Feel free to contact me with IM for info in how to do this. I am retired and have over 2000 books in my collection drop Me an IM and tell me what you need converted I may already have it done

 

Listening to ANYTHING lowers your focus from your eyes. That's why when we're looking for an address we turn the radio down. It's instinct, we know the quieter it is, the more we can process what we see.

Luckily, for MOST people, long as the radio is at a reasonable volume, you'll just ignore the radio. But not everyone can do it.

Just remember the reason cell phones are illegal. Thy did an experiment, people talking on their cell phone didn't notice the juggling clown on a unicycle pass in front of them. Radio isn't much different. (also why there's pushes to let using th phone to talk be legal in cars again... They found out it's not much more dangerous than radio, and out of the two evils, I'd rather have people on the phone than texting). Just use (un)common sense. If you need to focus, turn the radio off, otherwise, you'll be ok. You won't crash, but you'll have no idea what kind of car passed you.