Talking Books and the History of Aural Speed Reading

Mara Mills, “Talking Books and the History of Aural Speed Reading”

Thursday, February 27th at 6:00pm

Bobst Library, Room 745

Speech gained momentum in television and radio broadcasting in the 1970s, after the commercialization of “time compressors” that allowed tape recordings to be accelerated without any change in pitch. This talk will discuss the cultural imperative for aural speed reading among blind Talking Book readers, dating to the 1930s, which drove time-stretching innovations in the magnetic tape era, allowing playback rate to be changed without a ecting pitch.

Sponsored by NYU Libraries.