Comments on: They listen at chipmunk speed https://www.isegoria.net/2017/07/they-listen-at-chipmunk-speed/ From the ancient Greek for equality in freedom of speech; an eclectic mix of thoughts, large and small Thu, 02 Jul 2026 17:31:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 By: Candide III https://www.isegoria.net/2017/07/they-listen-at-chipmunk-speed/comment-page-1/#comment-2567524 Candide III Mon, 24 Jul 2017 12:09:56 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=42178#comment-2567524 It might be a problem if they also understand at chipmunk speed.

]]> By: James Wilson https://www.isegoria.net/2017/07/they-listen-at-chipmunk-speed/comment-page-1/#comment-2567511 James Wilson Mon, 24 Jul 2017 08:28:54 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=42178#comment-2567511 I vary the speed according to the speaker first, and the content second. There are some who speak naturaly and well at 1.5x, and I leave it be. I also use the app to speed read to points of interest where I slow it down.

]]> By: Handle https://www.isegoria.net/2017/07/they-listen-at-chipmunk-speed/comment-page-1/#comment-2567482 Handle Sun, 23 Jul 2017 21:47:49 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=42178#comment-2567482 My commute is currently an hour drive each way, and I use @Voice Aloud Reader on my Android device to listen to blogs from my reader app at 3.25X on average. Your brain gets used to it quick, and gradually you recalibrate and feel “distracted and bored by the slow pace” again and you increase it another notch.

The app is free with ads and allows you to adjust the voice depth so you can listen at chipmunk speed without chipmunk pitch. The mentally comfortable rate seems to depend on the intellectual level, complexity, and abstractedness of the arguments. Sometimes for ordinary news or fiction I’m able to speed it up to 4X or above, but other times I have to slow it down to under 2.5X (e.g. Hanson’s posts at Overcomingbias.)

So I’m definitely the target market for Rightspeed for audio files, and I’ll have to see whether it works with the players and audio formats used by the programs to which I want to listen.

For instance, Sam Harris recently had Scott Adams on as a guest. Would Rightspeed speed that program up?

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