April celebrates audiobooks with awards in New York (Audies) and Scandinavian cities (Storytel). The art of audiobook narration is celebrated in the news this month from author reads, to the meaningful use of the pause, to the dynamics of a masterfully produced multi-cast. Read what disabled listeners have to say about A.I. narrators. Also this month; audiobooks and brain development, advertising in audiobooks, to recipe or not to recipe, new subscription offerings and additional A.I. considerations.

This Month, enjoy an NPR audiobook comic strip, predictions for advertising-in-audio listening experiences, the love of narration and listening, the growth of Welsh and Spanish markets, new offerings in Poland and Bengal, ethical considerations of AI, praise of the human voice and the possibilities of human voices and AI living in… support of one another. In addition, tune your earpods to a couple notable audiobook offerings.

This month we pay tribute to audiobook advocates past and present, a current EGOT legend, the use of audiobooks for mental health and a generous donation to the RNIB Talking Books Library. Explore new opportunities in the Spanish and Korean language markets and a futuristic hub for new-age learning in UAE. And the news continues to be flooded with A.I. considerations including the controversy of Apple’s misuse of audibooks for A.I. voice training.

This month, it was hard to avoid the Apple Books announcement of its new AI-powered digital narration offering. A few articles are included here to represent a variety of opinions and predictions as well as AI advancements in South Korea. The glories of audiobooks as we know them are also celebrated this month with a New Yorker article, trainer’s tips, a heart-warming story of audiobooks helping Ukrainian refugee children, the surge of Spanish language audiobooks, and a case for Urdu language audiobooks.

This month’s news abounds: read about the cultural considerations and business models highlighted at FutureBook and at a new startup in Sweden, what it takes to cultivate a career as a skilled narrator, various benefits of listening to audiobooks from early learning literacy to preserving bardic traditions and get updates on the popularity and trends of audiobook consumption in the UK, Romania, France and the exciting preservation of story and language in East African and Arabic collections.