Just a few moments ago, I posted on Twitter that I had recently discovered how to make podcasts play back at twice their original speed using the iPhone. Honestly, that was one of those tweets I didn’t think would get any response and so of course, I got quite a few wondering how to make this happen.

First, for those wondering what the point of this is, I am used to reading audio books and of course my screen reader at a rate of speed much higher than normal. I believe this is the case for many of us blind folks who are simply used to processing lots of audio. In my case, I find myself quickly tiring of lengthy programs when having to listen at normal speed, although admittedly, this could have something to do with the vast amounts of caffeine consumed on a daily basis, who knows. Another advantage to listening to podcasts and other media at twice the normal speed is, well, that it only takes half as long to listen to it. So, an hour podcast can be ingested in a mere 1800 seconds, pretty cool, eh?

All that out of the way, here’s how to make it happen. While listening to a podcast episode, you’ll find an image that for VoiceOver users, simply says, “album art.” I’m not sure what the image looks like visually, my guess would be, well, like album art? Anyway, double tap this image and a few new controls appear toward the bottom of the window. from right to left, these new controls include: playback speed, email podcast link, 30 second rewind, a track position slider, and the total of unplayed episodes. Concerning the playback speed, that playback speed button is a toggle which cycles between double speed, half speed and of course, normal speed. I’m wondering if books from audible can be played back at faster speeds, sadly, I don’t have any at the moment with which to try.