Picture yourself sitting at your desk, your eyes scanning the same paragraph for the fifth time. We have all been there, haven't we? You are reading, but the information isn’t sticking.
Do you know why this is happening? It is because using just your eyes can create a bottleneck in how your brain processes information. But what if we told you that you could tap into a second way for your memory to process information? By using both your eyes and your ears, you can change the way your brain is processing information.
Let’s take a look at why listening to your notes could be the missing link in your studying routine.
The Science of Dual Coding
When we learn, we tend to think of it as a visual process. But the truth is, the brain is much more efficient when it is processing information from multiple senses at once. This is called the Dual Coding Theory. What it means is that your brain has tracks for visual and auditory information. When you process both, you're creating two separate paths to the same memory. If you didn't remember what a page looked like, your brain could play back what the sound of the information was, making it much harder to forget during a test.
Studies on multimodal learning indicate that students who use more than one sense have better retention rates. It's not just about repeating the information; it's about complexity. When you hear information being presented while your eyes are following the words, you're balancing your mental workload. This is what prevents mental burnout that comes from looking at a screen or a textbook for hours on end.
Turning Static Text into Active Sound
Most of our study materials are locked away in static PDFs, textbooks, or handwritten notes. The process of turning these materials into something that you can listen to was a hassle in the past, but technology has made it easier. Many students today are using text to speech (TTS) software to record their own study materials or research papers. This allows you to listen to your own study materials while you are commuting, cleaning, or just taking a break with your eyes closed.
The best part about using text to speech (TTS) is that it requires a different type of attention. When we are reading silently, we tend to miss small words or lose our place in the text. When you are listening to the words, your mind is forced to keep up with the pace of the speech. This is a rhythmic input that can help you identify mistakes in your writing or make sense of the logic behind an argument that seemed confusing on paper.
Why Your Ears Are Better at Catching Details
Have you ever noticed how you can recall the lyrics of a song from years ago, but you can’t recall what you read two days ago? Our brains are inherently attuned to sound. For most of human history, knowledge was transmitted orally, not in written form.
By listening to your recordings, you are accessing this audio hardware from the past.
Here's why your ears are better at catching details:
● Emphasis and Tone: Even a neutral computer voice gives you a rhythm that makes it easier to distinguish between ideas.
● Pacing: You can’t skim an audio file like you can skim a page, which ensures that you actually understand each sentence.
● Pronunciation: Listening to difficult vocabulary terms helps solidify their meaning in your mind and makes you more confident using them in discussions.
Breaking the Fatigue Cycle
Digital eye strain is a true hindrance to learning. After six hours of school and two hours of homework, your eyes are fatigued. When your eyes are exhausted, your focus wanes, and your memory retention is close to nothing. This is when it helps to change to an auditory learning mode, as it allows you to give yourself a visual break while continuing the learning process.
Changing learning modes keeps your brain engaged. It is a change of tempo that can revitalize a dull study session. Just think of it as a relay race. When your visual processing team is exhausted, the auditory team takes over. This enables you to study for longer periods of time without feeling the same level of mental fatigue.
How to Make the Most of Multimodal Habits
So, how do you actually implement this? It's not just a matter of pressing play and checking out. To really give your memory the edge it needs, the listening process needs to be an active one.
You could try shadowing, where you repeat the words quietly as you hear them, or you could follow along in your notebook as the audio plays.
This process of seeing, hearing, and maybe even speaking the notes is a triple threat to your memory. It gives you a strong mental map of the material. Students who follow these processes often report that when they are taking a test, they are able to hear the notes in their head, which gives them a much-needed boost when they get stuck on a question.
Conclusion
There you have it! Boosting your memory does not mean working harder. It simply means to adopt strategies that will help utilize the natural strength of your brain. So, move away from the strictly visual approach and embrace the power of sound to give your mind the tools it needs to store and recall information effectively.
