It’s very much a character background.

To me, though, it isn’t that much worse than books where the main character is forced to sleep in a closet and the adults around him don’t do anything about the fact that he’s beaten and underfed.

When none of the books I want to read are available in Libby, I sometimes choose a random book that is available instead. Sometimes it’s a great read (and it’s how I also discovered The Goldfinch). If I don’t like it, it costs me nothing to return it and find something else.

I have to do something else while I’m listening to an audiobook. Driving, housework, and embroidery all work well most of the time.

I can’t pay attention to the book if I’m doing something that requires attention, however. If I’m listening while driving, for example, I have to pause the audiobook when I’m in tricky traffic or negotiating a complicated intersection. Trying to follow a recipe also means I’ll lose track of the story.

Just sitting and listening is even harder. I either fall asleep or start paying too much attention to what’s going on around me.

Yeah, it’s linguistic assimilation, but in current English, height ends in \t\ not \θ\.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/the-height-of-mispronunciation2014or-not

“Height” does not end in an h. Over and over again by one narrator.