Can I Learn Anything From Listening to Podcasts?

A couple of years ago I realized that I had amassed a large backlog of podcast episodes that I hadn’t listened to. Clearly, past me thought listening to each of these episodes should be a priority for the intellectual development of future me, but future me was undisciplined and intransigent.

At first glance, it seemed that my appetite for podcast-based learning was larger than my stomach. But, given I’m a big fan of listening to academics argue about esoteric ideas, I concluded that the backlog had accrued from an implementation problem, rather than a lack of motivation.

My chosen solution for addressing this: pair my consumption of podcasts with a habit I’d already formed, such as exercise. Overall, this strategy has worked well. I no longer have a backlog of podcast episodes I need to listen to. I have time to listen to people from across the political spectrum. And Pavlovian conditioning has meant I can now burn calories just by hearing Russ Robert‘s voice.

Since forming the habit a couple of years ago, I’ve listened to around 500 hours of audio, which (for scale) is roughly the same amount of time as a semester of full-time study at university. Although the learning outcomes from a semester of university and listening to podcasts on disparate topics isn’t likely to be comparable, it does beg the question: how likely am I to learn anything by implementing this habit?

Do people learn anything from listening to podcasts during exercise?

In an attempt to answer this question I had to go down an internet rabbit-hole. However, given the question “Does Giles remember anything useful from the podcast he listened to while exercising?” turned up no useful results (a major research gap) I needed to translate this into a more general question, such as:

1. Do individuals retain information from podcasts if they listen to them while undertaking low-intensity exercise?

Which could roughly be thought of as a combination of:

• A: Do individuals retain information when listening to podcasts; and
• B: Is knowledge retention from listening to podcasts impacted by the activity of the listener.

Noting that Eva Vivalt’s research would suggest caution is warranted when trying to translate evidence from one context to another, the key assumption I’m interested in testing is whether my habit makes sense if my aim is to learn something.

To answer this I’m therefore assuming that if evidence exists that individuals can learn something from listening to podcasts (question A = “Yes”) and how they’re listened to doesn’t matter (question B = “No”) then it’s plausible that the answer question 1 is “Yes” (probably).

With an affirmative answer suggesting not only that the habit makes sense for learning, but that creating a more structured ‘curriculum’ of podcasts could provide a means for getting the most from the habit and exploring specific topics in detail.

Q(A): Do individuals retain information when listening to podcasts?

Evidence seemed to point to podcasts being as good as text-based alternatives to learning. For instance, a number of small Randomized Controlled Trials measuring learning outcomes suggested listening to podcasts had similar learning outcomes to more traditional approaches to learning, including this study conducted on 130 orthopedic students, this study of 41 medical students and this study conducted on 65 students.

Although much of the experimental research focuses on knowledge retention in a context very different to most podcast listeners, if your aim is to learn something new, there are good reason to believe this is possible – suggesting the answer to A is ‘yes’ (probably).

Q(B): Is knowledge retention when listening to podcasts impacted by the activity of the listener?

Having answered in the affirmative to the question ‘do people learn anything from listening to podcasts’ the next logical question is whether adding ‘while jogging’ might change the results. That is, does it make a difference whether I listen to Russ Roberts on a treadmill, in the car or in an asylum?

Although I wasn’t able to find anything this specific, a number of pieces of research seemed to suggest learning outcomes aren’t significantly impacted by the mode of delivery (within reasonable bounds). For instance, several pieces of research indicated positive learning outcomes even when participants weren’t herded into a quiet room, including this trial testing the impact of listening to weight-loss podcasts and this meta-analysis reviewing evidence of the use of podcasts in medical education. Suggesting learning and even changes to behavior are possible when consuming podcasts in ‘messier’ environments likely to be more akin to those faced in the real world.

Finally, a particularly ‘niche’ piece of research with specific relevance to question B was this study. Which found no differences in learning outcomes between students that listened to prescribed podcasts in a quiet room to those that listened to the same podcast while driving. Again suggesting that how you listen to a podcast shouldn’t impact learning outcomes (within reasonable bounds).

A: You can learn something from listening to podcasts (probably)

So, while I wasn’t able to find research that specifically addressed the effectiveness of my habit, there appears to be good evidence that:

1. People tend to learn something from listening to podcasts; and
2. How people listen to podcasts does not seem to impact how much they learn (at least within reasonable bounds).

So where does that leave us? Well, for me it suggests I should keep the habit and there is little reason to force yourself to listen to podcasts in a quiet room (provided you can concentrate). If you enjoy listening to podcast hosts prattle on at the gym, do it. However, if you prefer to listen in a quiet space under the house you can do that too – just make sure it’s your house.

However, what particularly surprised me when undertaking this exercise was that the available evidence suggests there are similar learning outcomes from reading and listening. Suggesting that if you want to judge people for preferring audio-books to reading, then you should latch on something other than reading being superior for learning.

One tried and true method is to make disparaging remarks about your friend’s social class and work ethic. Alternatively, you could just support their passion for learning and be glad to have friends that are interested in the world around them. I’m yet to find research that indicates which of these is superior.