CES 2021: How audio’s immersive quality is driving its success

More than a third of Americans age 12 listen to at least one podcast per month. — AFP Relaxnews

You can’t fail to have noticed that audio is the medium of the moment, feeding into the media landscape in forms as diverse as podcasts and audio newsletters. A new study homes in on this enthusiasm for audio, which appears to be driven by the format’s immersive qualities.

The results of the report, commissioned by Entercom, were presented during the 2021 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show, which is being held digitally and runs through Jan 14. It encompasses a survey of over a thousand American adults and a neurological study of people’s perception of media sources such as audio, TV and social networks. The researchers focused in particular on the immersive qualities of these formats, measuring participants’ variations in heart rate when experiencing the various media sources.