Considering reading print for any stretch of time gives me eye strain, audio is better. I find most fiction easier to digest in audio. Though I never finished A Clockwork Orange because I couldn’t follow all the new slang, and I’d probably have better luck if I was seeing the words. Non-fiction is a little trickier, because there’s not really good ways to describe charts and graphs in audio format. So when I was reading for my doctorate, I had to pause often to look at figures and examples so I could understand what I was reading.

From a purely practical standpoint, I retain information better if I read it than if I listen to it in audio format, both fiction and non-fiction. Of course, that's only true as long as I can read it in an accessible format to me so I'm not also dealing with eye strain, headache, nausea, etc.

More technical books like math/physics books with lots of graphs or programming books with code samples, etc. are just harder to present in an audio format.

When reading fiction in print, I find it a little easier to imagine the universe in my head and I create my own voices and inflections for characters, vs. hearing a narrator read/perform the voices. So in that sense, I'd say that reading fiction is a more personal experience than listening to the audio book.

That said, if I'm deep into a series (the two that come to mind currently are *The Expanse* and *The Dresden Files*), I'm just as happy to go with the audio book, because I'm already sucked into that universe and the narrator's voice acting has become part of it.

A good narrator can also turn a "meh" book into a good experience, e.g. Andy Weir's *Artemis*. Similarly, a bad narrator can turn a good book into a "meh" experience, e.g. Neal Stephenson's *Seveneves*.

If I'm diving into a stand-alone novel or a new book in a series that I'm really excited about, I will try and read it on my Kindle Paperwhite first and then if I want to re-visit the story, I'll usually do the audio book. If I'm less invested and just looking for some easy entertainment, I'll probably skip trying to read it in print.

I am a braille reader, but I never picked up much speed past the elementary school, so reading for pleasure is a real chore. As a result, I have most definitely become dependent on audiobooks. I recently acquired a braille display, and keep telling myself that I'm going to make myself read a book for pleasure in braille just to say I've done it, but so far, I have not undertaken that project. I am fortunate that in the job that I have, I am able to listen to audiobooks all day long, so I read at least 10 books a month. It is fantastic! I'm sure there are benefits that I would get if I could find the patience to read books in braille. Knowing how names are spelled, punctuation, and stuff like that, but on the other side of the coin, most of that stuff isn't particularly important to me, so I just enjoy having the books read to me by awesome narrators. :-)

The VI person I know is currently reading a book on politics with lots of statistics, references and quotes about historical events. They were able to listen to the audiobook on long journeys but now want the e-book version so they can more easily bookmark, refer to and re-read sections.