Reading aloud is something I have naturally done since a young age, without giving much thought to it. I suppose I had been lucky enough that someone at some point of my growing up had taken the pains to read aloud with me.
I remember in junior high I used to enter storytelling competitions where I would memorize short stories and perform them live (from memory) in front of a jury panel.
Benefits of Reading Aloud
As it turns out, reading aloud has tons of benefits!
- According to psychologist Colen MacLeod, reading aloud helps memory. People consistently remember words and texts better if they read them aloud than if they read them silently. This effect is beneficial for younger kids to the elderly.
- Reading aloud helps detect memory issues earlier, such as Alzheimer’s disease (source: National Center for Biotechnology Information). From someone whose grandmother had memory issues and died without remembering anyone anymore, I am a bit concerned about this in my genes. Thus if I can detect it sooner, it would be better for me later on.
- For young minds, reading aloud helps to sharpen focus, improve vocabulary, and increase levels of comprehension (source: Learning Loft). This means, if you have a young child, encouraging them to read aloud to you is a practice of great value!
Recently, I’ve started reading aloud performances on my Instagram channel. There is a lovely section of Anne and Gilbert (Anne of Green Gables Series), the iconic first meeting of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (A Study in Scarlet), and also some of my writings. The prologue of Sacred Rituals is there along with the beginning chapters of Nisha.
The more I read aloud, the more I like it. Another book influencer that reads aloud is the highly popular Jaysen, dubbed “king of booktok” from Ezeekat Library.
If you like to listen to read-aloud (aka audiobooks), you can also out Nisha audiobook at my shop, which I narrated. If you’d like to read aloud something of mine, let me know! It might be fun.
