I swear the issue is not that listening should be counted as reading, which by definition it cannot, but that books can be consumed and processed via different senses. It’s entirely fine to accept several different verbs as a means to consume literary content.

This argument’s about processing and the fear that one person’s preference to consume media aurally is diminished when it’s not referred to as reading. It’s not reading. It’s listening. You’re still processing and learning but you’re not reading. But it doesn’t mean you aren’t consuming books.