Equipment review: Audio books

Books are a great way to stay entertained, relax and learn. But how can you enjoy reading when you are deafblind? Here’s our review of audio book technology to help you find out more!

RNIB Reading Services and Easy Reader app

Sign up to RNIB Reading Services to browse and download audio books for free! We recommend that you use this alongside the Dolphin Easy Reader app. The app is like a bookstore which allows you to link to many audio-book services. You can then set the text size, font and colour themes for low vision needs – or use the audio playback feature.

Calibre talking books

Another great talking books service, Calibre streams books via their website, so you never actually download anything to your device. This means that you can access as many books as you like and listen to them via the internet. Calibre is hoping to launch their own app soon which will also be fully accessible. Click here for more information.

Audible talking books

Audible is owned by Amazon, it has a huge collection of audio books, all narrated by actors and authors. It is a subscription service for a £7.99 a month which allows you to download one book per month, but they do have a 30 day free trial. You will need an Amazon account and the Audible app to listen to the books.

Did you know…

• Books that are downloaded that have been pre-recorded with an actors or the authors voice are known as audio books.
• Text only books are referred to as e-books – you can listen to these using a screen reader such as Voiceover, Voice Assistant or NVDA.