CELA has recently concluded our  Accessible Commercial Audiobooks Project, which was funded by Accessibility Standards Canada.  Audiobooks are CELA’s most popular format. Our interest in this project was to help industry both understand the reading needs of people with print disabilities and find best practices that met their commercial and accessibility goals.   

Launched in April 2024, the project involved a landscape review and stakeholder consultations, followed by testing of audiobook materials with specific accessibility features by readers with and without print disabilities. These readers shared their experiences using these materials, and audiobooks in general, and from these experiences we gathered data and formed recommendations. A key goal of the project is to help create accessibility guidelines and resources for publishers, audiobook producers and others in the audiobook industry to improve the accessibility of audiobooks across the board. 

A project of this scope required the input of many stakeholders. We want to thank all the readers who participated and offered their feedback, as well as those who volunteered but were not selected. Their participation was invaluable.   

We also are grateful for the contributions of the Advisory Committee which includes representatives of Rakuten Kobo, ECW Press, the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, L’Association nationale des éditeurs de livres, eBound, CNIB, the National Network for Equitable Library Service, and Laura Brady (Consultant).   The Advisory Committee helped to guide the project, and ensured it includes the experience of people with disabilities and addresses the needs of industry. 

One of the main insights from the project is that readers with and without print disabilities share similar needs and preferences when reading audiobooks, suggesting that more accessible audiobooks will provide a better experience for all readers.  

We also found that more customization or personalization in audiobooks and platforms would meet the needs of a range of readers. For example, many readers want image descriptions, but not all readers want them, and their importance may depend on the type of book. Books and platforms that allow readers to hear or skip image descriptions would be flexible enough to meet the range of needs and preferences.  

Readers also suggested many exciting possibilities they wished for the future of audiobooks. Some of the top requests include interaction with an audiobook such as searching for specific words and jumping to that passage. Many participants were also interested in being able to switch between text and human-narrated audio.  

The complete research report as well as a plain language and detailed summary are available.  

• Accessibility of Commercial Audiobooks Research Report (Word document) 

• Plain language executive summary (Word document) 

• Detailed executive summary (Word document) 

You are also welcome to view the recording of our presentations of our findings. The presentations will be available in English and French on our YouTube channel.