How to Study for Auditory Learners.

Auditory Learners have it tough. Classes are rarely taught in an auditory format, so you have to often learn visually. If you are a Visual Learner and want to learn how to study effectively, check out our article on the topic.

Even if you go out of your way to find audio content to study on your own time, it often yields… well, nothing.

Today, we are going to give you valuable tips that you can apply to your studying right away, while also giving you some awesome websites that you can learn from in an auditory format.

Sound good? Lets go.

Before we begin, let’s clarify what traits Auditory Learners have.

• They often portray their emotions through the timbre and volume of their voice.

• They like learning through oral speaking and auditory formats.

• Learns effectively when talking with others.

• May have poor handwriting.

• Usually does not like drawing

• Often listens to movies instead of truly watching them.

There are many more traits that could be listed here, but I just wanted to give you a brief overview of the characteristics.

Avoid Distracting Sounds 🎧

Because Auditory Learners are so drawn to various sounds, it makes sense to isolate yourself from sounds that will distract you.

This includes conversation (the most distracting), car horns, phone ringtones, loud music, and other sounds that can distract you from your work.

If you have to study in a loud place that has some of these sounds, I recommend buying a pair of noise-canceling headphones so you can stay focused.

The best places to study are libraries, coffee shops (with noise-canceling headphones), and your own room (if it isn’t too distracting).

Use songs, repetition, and rhymes 🎶

Because you learn best through audio and speech, listening to songs with lyrics, speech repetition, and rhymes (and poems) are all great ways to retain information. For example, if you wanted to learn the quadratic formula in math, there is a great song on YouTube that can help you memorize the formula.

Repetition is pretty simple. Take the concept that you learned, and speak it out loud to yourself. After you finish, repeat it a few times while looking at your notes, and then attempt to repeat it without any help. This is a great way to memorize things that need to be learned verbatim.

Speaking what you are trying to memorize is key here. Because you learn well through speech cues and audio, speaking it out reinforces your learning, and puts it into your memory more effectively.

Rhyming can either be watched in a video/audio format on websites like youtube or can be created by yourself. If you find a good video on youtube with a rhyme that helps you remember something, using that may be the ideal route. If you cannot find a good source (usually the case), you should try to create one yourself.

Think about ways you can make parts of the concept rhyme together, and use the repetition strategy I taught above to keep it in your memory. Remember, speaking it is important. Also, you can use a rhythm while singing/speaking these rhymes to further ingrain them into your memory.

Listening to songs that teach you the subject can boost your learning and retention. All you have to do is remember the song (and the lyrics), and you will be able to recite what you learned whenever you would like.

Talk about your Notes with Others 📝

If you have gotten this far, you have probably noticed a common motif throughout this article: Talking.

Talking is essential to the success of an Auditory Learner, because it engages their fondness for sounds and speech, while also being interactive.

Talking through (and exchanging/comparing) your notes with others is great for Auditory Learners. The sharing and comparing of notes will require you to recite your notes, and namely, what is missing in your notes. The quality of your notes will improve drastically, but it also helps you memorize the material because you and your group are talking about the concept and reciting it.

If you have a study group, you are probably already doing this to an extent.

This difference here is actually talking about your notes, not just copying and exchanging. In the study session, try to summarize the whole lecture from the day with just your (combined) notes, and fill in the gaps that you missed.

This works for all learning types, not just the Auditory Learner.

As you go over your notes over and over, you will start to become intimately familiar with the content and should be test-ready.

Remember to always test each other so you can fix common mistakes, and gain more experience.

Find a good Study Source 🧠

Finding a good studying source can be especially difficult, especially for Auditory Learners.

Most sources are primarily visual, with the classic textbook being the best example of this. It includes great graphics and images to explain the concepts, but what if graphics aren’t your thing? Yes, it includes short audio snippets, but it is spoken by a monotonous Google Translate algorithm, and has close to no characteristics that will be beneficial for Auditory Learners.

That is why you usually have to go out of your way to find sources that are easy to learn from, and are trustwortly.

Here is a small list of great sources that you can reference for your studying:

• YouTube – A great platform that is mostly known for video content, but has some great auditory gems if you do some searching. Usually searching your topic, and then ‘song’, could bring up some great results if the topic is well-known.

• Audible – With Audible, you can find great podcasts and audiobooks for many topics, including business, philosophy, politics, etc. Podcasts and Audiobooks are a great way to leverage the power of audio in your learning, and play to your strengths.

• Pimsleur (For language) – If you are learning a language, Pimsleur is a great solution, using audio and conversations to help you retain information. If you click the speaker icon next to a sentence, you can hear it spoken aloud to help you with pronunciation.

If you have learned something new from this article, leave a comment letting us know!