Love of reading and reading comprehension go hand in hand, and audiobooks have proven to promote increased reading activity -- and advance reading comprehension, something many people struggle with on a day to day basis.

For students, audiobooks stimulate the imagination, help build vocabulary skills and enhance pronunciation. Also, whereas a thick-paged book might be intimidating to a student, most are familiar with computers, iPods and stereo systems - and are adept at using them. So why not give them an option that merges traditional reading enjoyment and comprehension with the high-tech universe they're immersed in?

Audiobooks can quickly become a source of pleasure for the student and can mean the difference in viewing learning as a fun activity or as a necessary annoyance to be avoided at all cost. That isn't to say audiobooks should replace traditional reading activities altogether, but they can contribute to the student's education and advancement.

Students who find themselves failing in the classroom can use audiobooks as a source of valuable information to help them catch up and forge ahead on almost any subject by increasing their comprehension. Audiobooks also offer the individualized attention that will ultimately increase a student's understanding of a subject.

Gifted students can also avail themselves of audiobooks to increase their knowledge of a subject or expand the volume of books they can read during a certain amount of time. With a teenager's schedule, there's often limited time to pursue academic activities, and audiobooks can be devoured on the go.

A rapid increase in language comprehension can also be obtained by the used of audiobooks. The connection between text and speech becomes clear with the use of audiobooks, helping the student to improve his reading and vocabulary skills.

Audiobooks are increasingly being used to help special needs students grasp the key between speech patterns and reading. Once this connection is understood by the student, he experiences a new level of self-esteem. The audiobook serves as a supplement to the educational tools the student already uses to gain clarity for a topic.

The activity of reading becomes a much more joyful and useful experience when enhanced by audiobooks. Students can visualize more readily the actions of the words in the book and it becomes much more stimulating to the mind of the reader.

Once a student perceives audiobooks as an enjoyable hobby, he or she can make the transition to consuming print books on subjects they feel will entertain or educate them.