AI Audiobooks are not accessible

Yall, I've concluded that caring about stuff is really worth it, especially today. Caring about a craft, about a medium that I grew up on and thoroughly enjoy, is weighing on me today.

Because we're stuck in late-stage capitalism mode where nobody cares about anything other than extracting money from people, I think caring about anything today is a radical act of any kind.

Before I passionately rant about audiobooks and the industry as a whole, I'd like to first point out some obligatory things.

Not all Blind people love audiobooks or even use audiobooks. In fact, some blind people hate audiobooks. I'm not one of those blind people that hate audiobooks.

I got started in audiobooks at a very young age. Back then, I had enough space to read small print and of course large print. Still, I always, always, gravitated to audio, even though I had enough sight at the time to read large and small print. I grew up in a world of encouragement. My grandparents fueled curiosity in me. They fueled a desire to learn, to ask questions, even if others perceived them to be stupid or even insensitive questions. And, moreover, they indirectly taught me that being passionate about humanity isn't a bad thing. They encouraged me to learn about the world through books since I couldn't physically travel places.

That's why Audible's recent announcement that they've opened up their so called AI tools to publishers really boils my blood. What makes me even more furious is that they're calling this an accessibility victory. They're trying to use disabled people as justification to shove this technology everywhere instead of paying narrators.

At first, you might think, this is good, right? This way, audiobooks will be created that could never be created before.

Let's put a pin in that and come back to it.

This comment really made steam arise from my soul.

"Audible believes that AI represents a momentous opportunity to expand the availability of audiobooks with the vision of offering customers every book in every language, alongside our continued investments in premium original content," said Bob Carrigan, CEO, Audible. "We'll be able to bring more stories to life --- helping creators reach new audiences while ensuring listeners worldwide can access extraordinary books that might otherwise never reach their ears."

Are you kidding me?

No, really? Are you fucking kidding me?

There isn't enough anger I can leverage at a CEO, of any industry, really, but especially this one. It's especially insidious because after that post was published, they're ramping up their AI translation efforts to, once again, avoid paying narrators and workers.

This isn't a win for accessibility. It's just a tool so publishers can stop paying for audiobook narrators. That's really all it is. This isn't a tool for Disabled people, and even if it was, it isn't a solution that advances accessibility or even accessible literature. It's just a mechanism for publishers to avoid paying translators and narrators, and I'd even argue sound engineers. Audio editors. Everybody in the craft of audiobook production.

There are a few pushes for this to become more of a norm going around saying, well, this is a win for accessibility! Now blind people won't have to wait for a narrator to record the book! Plus, this way, there will be audiobooks made that would never have audio versions.

While these arguments are probably trying to advocate for accessibility, more so than AI, I think these kinds of arguments are missing a fundamental understanding of Blind people and the tech we use.

In short, we use screen readers and Braille displays. We don't need AI narration because we already have a built-in text to speech system that reads eBooks for us when they're not locked to an inaccessible platform with DRM or forced to read an eBook on an inaccessible hardware device with DRM restrictions.

Why is this distinction important? Because these AI narrations don't make audiobooks accessible to me. They're just a gimmick. They don't enhance my audiobook listening experience in any way. In fact, it actually makes TTS, text to speech, solutions inaccessible rather than accessible.

I'm depending on a screen reader and Braille display to read eBooks. This is important to remember because a screen reader is controlled by me instead of whatever setting the publisher decides on the TTS/AI narration.

In a world often hostile to disabled people, one of the best ways you can give accessibility to a disabled person is to give us power, agency, and give us control.

I know some classify these virtual voice narrations as a TTS solution. To the public, TTS is still good and desired, but there's a lot of ways this TTS solution conflicts with my accessibility needs and others accessibility needs.

How AI narration breaks accessibility.

Let's start at the top, with probably the most obvious question.

Why would you want to use your screen reader over AI narration?

That's a good question! Again, it all comes down to agency and choice.

The short answer? My screen reader is controlled by me, not some audiobook publisher.

This is important. My screen reader is configured the way I like it. An audiobook publisher isn't dictating my TTS experience for me. I'm in control. I'm in the driver's seat. Everything from the reading speed, to the voice used, to the way it pronounces words and phrases, I can change all of that on the fly. I can't have that same freedom with AI audiobook narration. These AI narrated solutions are out of my control. I'm limited to one voice, one way it pronounces words. It isn't on the device. It doesn't connect to my Braille display. It locks me into whatever is dictated by the AI narrator, yanking control from me entirely, except maybe the speech rate, but that doesn't help me read an audiobook. It just locks me into something and I'm forced to participate.

Here are just some benefits my screen reader provides that these AI narrators don't.

If an eBook is fully accessible to me, I can,

• Highlight words in an eBook. Send quotes to people. Extract text to use as citations.
• Change punctuation/reading style. I can't change AI narration to say, hashtag, instead of POUND SIGN, as an example. My screen reader Let's me change anything I want to change.
• My screen reader is faster. Point blank.
• I can stop speech and read with Braille anytime. I can't do that with AI narration.
• I can stop speech and check the spelling of a word or phrase. I can't do that with AI narration.
• My screen reader allows me to change punctuation levels, allowing me to control how I want to read.
• My screen reader follows directions because I'm telling it what to do. An audiobook publisher isn't dictating anything for me. I'm in control.
• My screen reader also isn't storing some text in a database somewhere for later processing. It's just interpreting what's on screen.

Even with all those benefits, there's also other reasons why AI audiobooks aren't making audiobooks more accessible to me.

My screen reader is free. These audiobooks cost money. Why would I pay for this? Why should I pay for this when I have a fully free screen reader on my computer called NVDA?

Not that it matters much to CEOs and publishers, but there's also another reason why this also just really creams my corn.

Nobody that uses this AI narration solution understands audiobooks.

The audiobook experience.

I had the pleasure of interviewing some audiobook narrators for my projects in progress. Some of these narrators I grew up with shaped my love of literature because they didn't just read to me, they gave me an experience. I knew these audiobook narrators on a very intimately parasocial level. I'm sure that even as I type this, some audiobook narrator is actively drafting a restraining order because of all my gushing and loving of people that have been in my ear since I was a child.

In all seriousness though, I feel as if nobody understands audiobooks. This is why you get the misguided screaming from audiobook hating blind people that audiobooks aren't reading. Sighted people don't understand audiobooks. Anti audiobook blind people don't understand audiobooks.

I get this everywhere I go. "I don't understand audiobooks."

I fear I'll always run into people that will just never understand audiobooks. That's fine. I'll continue listening. And, despite the push to ruin audiobook narrators lives by introducing technology so publishers don't have to pay them, audiobook narrators will still be recording audiobooks. Why? Probably the same reason other audiobook fans, alongside me, keep listening to them and keep loving them.

When I sit down to read an audiobook, I don't want to just have words read to me. I want an experience. I want to spend lengthy hours with a narrator because I know that narrator is going to give me one hell of a ride. That narrator is going to give me so many experiences that an AI narrator will never be able to give me.

While I do know Braille, contracted and uncontracted Braille, in my case, I struggle with contracted Braille. A lot! I don't want to struggle just to read. Besides, and this is probably the most important thing, I want to spend time with my narrator.

When I'm listening to an audiobook, it isn't just about the text of the book. It isn't just about listening to someone parrot back words at me. If I wanted that, I'd use my screen reader.

When I read an audiobook, I want to spend time with my narrator. I want to have them tell me a story. I want them to take me on a journey. I want them to ignite the movie in my minds eye with their tones, their inflections, their verbal smiles and frustrated growls and tear-filled declarations. I want them to blaze that torch of experience and carry me with them into a new world or a profound feeling. I want to enjoy the book, not just decode it.

While I was interviewing these audiobook narrators for the upcoming projects, at first, I was hesitant to tell them about my profound thanks for their life's work. I'm not naive. Some days, it feels more like work than anything else, and it isn't joyful to them. Would my gratitude come at a time when they had a really hard work day and just want to be done with the corporate bullshit?

I then decided that maybe these comments are exactly what they needed to hear, so I told them thank you and then I gushed about them and their work, barely able to contain myself.

Instead of screaming and racing to get the nearest restraining order, there was something profound happening. We were connecting on a human level.

I told them thank you because I can't express my gratitude loud enough. I told all of them,

Thank you for being my world builder. Thank you for being my unofficial babysitter all these years. In truth though, you, as an audiobook narrator, you've been kindling a fire in me ever since I was a kid. You've been brewing a love of literature without realizing it. You've been turning a passive reader into an active reader. You've given me so many emotional moments to ponder over, so many worlds to explore, so many futuristic possibilities to live in, and so many mysteries to solve and so many joys and heartaches and moments of raw laughter and poignant touches of empathetic art. You've opened up doors for me when none existed. You helped me learn something new, every day, without realizing it. You teach me things every day with every nonfiction book you narrate. You open doors for me every day and you bring the world to me as an audiobook narrator. I can't thank you enough for making the world a little more accessible.

I can't thank you enough for not just being a voice in my ear, but for guiding me, teaching me, learning alongside me, going on adventures with me. You, as an audiobook narrator, open up worlds and information to me on a daily basis. I know some days, this is more work than it's joyful, but that's all the more reason why I celebrate audiobook narrators. Without you, audiobooks wouldn't be as accessible as they are. Thank you for giving me the world.

I don't know how to repay you.

AI narration will never achieve that.