Compare · Text-to-speech app for academic papers
Aethel Audio vs Listening
Listening is a text-to-speech app made for academic reading: it turns papers, PDFs and web pages into audio and can leave out citations, references and footnotes. Aethel reads papers too, and goes further into the technical content: equations are spoken as maths, figures and tables are described, and you can stop on a sentence to ask about it. If your papers are mostly prose and you want a native mobile app, Listening is a natural choice. If the argument lives in the equations, try the same paper in both.
Last reviewed 11 November 2026. Listening is a product of Listening.com; this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by Listening.com. Something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
Side by side
What it is
Listening: A text-to-speech app for papers, PDFs and web pages
Aethel: A study reader for technical books and research papers
Citations and references
Listening: Can skip citations, references and footnotes
Aethel: The reference list is shown but not read; numbered citation markers are left out of the audio
Equations
Listening: Equation narration isn't described in detail in its store listings
Aethel: Each equation is rebuilt and read as maths inside the sentence; the printed formula stays on screen
Figures and tables
Listening: Focus is on narrating the text
Aethel: Kept beside the paragraph that cites them, with a spoken description
Study tools
Listening: Choose which sections of a paper to listen to
Aethel: Ask about a passage, review cards, highlights exported as Markdown
Translation
Listening: Not a documented focus
Aethel: Chapters translated into 17 languages and narrated in the translation
Where it runs
Listening: iOS and Android apps, and the web
Aethel: Web app on any device, installable, with offline downloads
Price
Listening: See Listening's current prices
Aethel: Free: 5 books and 1 hour of narration. Pro Reader $4.99/month (6 h, standard voices). Pro $9.99/month (12 h, ElevenLabs voices). Yearly plans save about two months. All plans
Choose Listening if…
- • You want a native iPhone or Android app.
- • Your reading is mostly prose: social science, humanities, review articles.
- • You want to listen to web articles as well as papers.
Choose Aethel if…
- • Your papers are full of equations, figures and tables.
- • You want to ask what a sentence means and review it later.
- • You read textbooks as well as papers, or need a chapter translated.
Test it on your hardest page
The fairest comparison is your own material. Import the same maths-heavy chapter into both and listen to a page with equations. Here is what Aethel says for a classic:
Attention(Q, K, V) = softmax(QKᵀ / √dₖ)V
Aethel says
Attention of Q, K, V equals softmax of the quantity Q K transpose over the square root of d sub k, times V
Vaswani et al., “Attention Is All You Need”, NeurIPS 2017, equation 1
Questions
Which is better for arXiv papers?
Both import a PDF. Aethel also takes an arXiv link directly and reads the equations as maths, which matters for most arXiv papers. For a paper with little notation the two are closer, and Listening's mobile apps may suit you better.
Do both leave out the reference list?
Yes, in different ways. Listening offers skipping of citations, references and footnotes. Aethel shows the reference list without reading it and leaves numbered citation markers out of the audio.
Other comparisons
Hear your own book this way.
Free to start: five books and an hour of narration, no card needed.