The Research on the Preference of “Role Play” Acts in Audiobook upon Chinese Audiences

Abstract

Nowadays, in the new media environment generated by science and technology such as digital technology, Internet technology, and mobile communication technology, the way people acquire information and knowledge presents diversified characteristics, and people's reading methods also have more choices. Sound, which serves as one of the most vital parts of the reading industry, also has been making progress in its development. And the behavior of listening to audiobooks has been fulfilled in people’s lives. Although the previous related research does have essential contributions to studying the audiobook industry, they just introduce the audiobook market and some of the uses appear in people’s lives. This literature does not address what interests people about audiobooks, and it does not fully address what makes audiobooks appealing. In this research, the authors want to explore the factors that influence audiobooks so that the authors can figure out how can the authors make audiobooks better for the listeners. The research topic is whether the element of “role play” acts on the most influential part in the audiobook industry. An e-questionnaire was designed to collect the data mainly about the users’ preferences on three elements: the cast of the voice actors, the post-production, and the form of the audiobook. And the result shows that most of the young people may care about the form of the audiobook, especially liking the form of performing the stories like drama.