Reading audiobooks is still reading.

If you say you read an audiobook you don't have to "correct" yourself. I'd argue that you /shouldn't/, that you'd get less correct.

There's no need to say "well no I didn't read it" if it was an audiobook. There's no need to put "reading" in scare quotes.

It's reading just as much as reading print is.

I know there are worse problems, but it sucks having my favored reading format denigrated by sighted people, even to the point of them denying it's "real."

@bright_helpings

A large part of the stigma with audio books is how they were often abridged versions of the full text, sometimes with surprising liberties. (For example, the 1989 audiobook of A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES read by Arte Johnson has some jarring edits that omit key scenes.) But in this digital era, where running lengths aren't limited by cassette-reel sizes, that's a legacy issue and you're right that it should be dismissed.