Listen closely

The boom in podcasts, audiobooks and general newfound love of the spoken word could hardly have been imagined a few years ago. But now it seems that experts might have worked out why we all love them so. If you’re one of the millions who pop on their headphones to get a fix, you enjoy a more powerful emotional response than on loudspeaker, a study has found. People who use headphones experience a phenomenon called in-head localisation, which makes the orator sound as if they’re actually inside your head, and leads you to gain more from the experience. Study co-author On Amir says: ‘Listeners perceive the communicators as closer – both physically and socially – and, as a result, regard them as warmer people. They feel and behave more empathetically towards them, and they are more easily persuaded by them.’

This discovery could now help to better deliver remote-working and training programmes, and even public education messages.