Audible bringing "Immersion Reading" to Australia with new Read & Listen feature in coming months

Way back when Amazon launched its first Kindle in Australia, one of the cool features was the ability to use text to speech to have it "read" a book to you.

Obviously the rise of Audible and audiobooks meant that's no longer something the Kindle does, but this new announcement fills some of the gap.

Audible is officially rolling out "Read & Listen," a feature designed to blend the digital page with professional narration.

Within the Audible app, users who own both the eBook and the audiobook versions of a title can follow along with real-time, word-by-word highlighting that stays perfectly in sync with the audio.

This "immersion reading" moves away from treating audio as a secondary format. Instead, it creates a hybrid experience that allows for deeper engagement, whether you are relaxing at home or trying to focus on a complex narrative.

Boosting accessibility and focus

The move to launch in the Australian market is backed by research from Creative Australia, which highlights that more than a third of Australians now use audiobooks as a primary reading practice.

This technology is particularly impactful for those with dyslexia, ADHD, or low vision, as well as language learners who benefit from seeing and hearing words simultaneously.

According to Audible, this dual-format consumption isn't just a niche preference. Internal data suggests that users who read and listen together consume nearly twice as much content per month as those who stick to audio alone.

"Audiobooks count as reading," said Andy Tsao, Chief Product Officer at Audible. "But now at Audible, you can read with your eyes too. Read & Listen gives book lovers the best of both worlds."

How it works

The feature is integrated directly into the existing Audible interface. Users can toggle between a standard "Listen" mode and the new "Read & Listen" mode without losing their place.

To make the process easier, the app includes a dedicated library filter that automatically identifies which Kindle eBooks in your collection have matching audiobooks.

The service will support hundreds of thousands of titles at launch, including books in English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian.

While the feature is a significant step forward for the app, it does require the user to own both the Kindle eBook and the Audible audiobook to function.

This continues the existing "Whispersync" ecosystem that Amazon has built over the last decade, but brings the visual element directly into the Audible environment for the first time.

Pricing and availability

• Price: The Read & Listen feature is a free update to the Audible app, though users must own both the eBook and audiobook versions of a title to use it.
• Release Date: Available to users in the US and UK stores from 18 February 2026, with the local Australian rollout following in the coming months.
• Retailers: Accessible via the Audible app on iOS and Android, and the Audible.com.au store.