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It’s weird. When there’s just one narrator and they do different voices for different characters I don’t think twice about it but I can still tell the characters apart by voice alone. But when there’s an entirely different person’s voice my attention gets mildly distracted by it. It’s similar to when sometimes books will have a random sentence read out by someone different than the narrator, probably a post recording correction.

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Zippy@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I tend to agree with you. The one exception I find is that when there is a single narrator, it seems bit off when they voice the opposite sex.

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- Mechanite@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I’ve actually found myself surprised at how my brain doesn’t hear that was weird. I personally find it very natural. Maybe it’s because I was read a lot of stories verbally as a kid?
  
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tvbusy@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Same here. I still prefer single narrator. There are a few cases when there are just too many characters but it’s still much easier to listen to than multiple narrators.

I have also noticed sound effects in audiobooks. I like it at the end/start of a chapter, but it need to be subtle. I listened to Fractal Noise, which has audio effect for the thumbing sound, very quiet at the beginning but turned very loud at the end of the book. While it’s new and interesting at the beginning, I quickly grew tired of it. I’d rather only the narrator reading the book than hearing the sound effect.

I think it’s a matter of imagination. Reading/listening for me is not only about the story but also about my imagination. The sound effects removes this, sadly, despite the huge effort by the team.

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