And far from being a rare or bygone activity, it is still surprisingly common in modern life. The ancient art of reading aloud has a number of benefits for adults, from helping improve our memories and understand complex texts, to strengthening emotional bonds between people.

Reading out loud is largely reserved for bedtime stories and performances.īut a growing body of research suggests that we may be missing out by reading only with the voices inside our minds.

The majority of us bottle the words in our heads as if sitting in the hushed confines of a library. Only occasionally, a different technique was mentioned: to “see” a tablet – to read it silently. If it is appropriate, have the king listen to it.” “I am sending a very urgent message,” says one letter from this period. On clay tablets written in ancient Iraq and Syria some 4,000 years ago, the commonly used words for “to read” literally meant “to cry out” or “to listen”. For much of history, reading was a fairly noisy activity.

Kindle read aloud