Narratives, Editing, and Expressivity in the Digital Audio Ecosystem: From Writing for the Ear to Audiovisual Hybridization

The expansion of podcasting and other digital audio formats has consolidated a sound ecosystem defined by diversified offerings, narrative experimentation, and a redefinition of editorial practices (Berry, 2015; Rime et. al, 2022; Pedrero et. al, 2025). Beyond analyses of industry structures, business models, and listening habits—areas widely addressed in recent research (Sullivan, 2019; Terol, et al., 2021)—there is a growing need to examine how audio content designed for listening is conceived, produced, and structured, as well as the expressive transformations these formats continue to undergo (McHugh, 2016; Arense-Gómez et al., 2024; Rodríguez-Ortiz and Fernández-Sande, 2025).This Research Topic offers a space for academic reflection on editorial decision-making, narrative design, and expressive forms in digital audio. It considers the evolution of podcasting alongside the growth of audiobooks, contemporary audio fiction, and other spoken-word formats native to digital environments (Piñeiro-Otero and Pedrero-Esteban, 2022). Particular attention is paid to the increasing hybridization of audio and video, which challenges podcasting’s originally sonic orientation and raises questions about its identity, language, and modes of reception (García Marín, 2020; Harrison et al., 2023).In parallel, the rise of new voice-based interfaces such as conversational agents, smart speakers, and other voice-centered devices, creates fertile ground for rethinking content designed to be understood, interpreted, and decoded exclusively through listening, and for reclaiming listening as a specific cognitive and cultural experience (Berry, 2024).This Research Topic explores the current state and future trajectories of digital audio from editorial, narrative, and expressive perspectives. We welcome theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions that advance contemporary sound communication research. Submissions may include case studies, comparative analyses, critical literature reviews, and methodological contributions, preferably with an international scope and relevance for the broader field of communication research.Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to, the following:• editorial strategies in podcasting and digital audio: programming criteria, serialization, catalog curation, and the construction of sonic identities • narratives and poetics of digital audio: story structures, temporalities, point of listening, and the use of silence, music, and sound design as expressive resources• writing for the ear: narrative techniques, sound scripting, and the adaptation of texts to audio-only formats• podcasting and audiovisual media: tensions and synergies in audio–video hybridization; video podcasts, visualized recordings, and the redefinition of the act of listening• contemporary audio fiction: the evolution of radio drama, serialized storytelling, story worlds, and formal experimentation • audiobooks and the oralization of reading: narrative models, authorial and performative voice, genre adaptation, and extended listening experiences• content design for voice interfaces: conversational storytelling, interactive audio, and new sonic formats linked to voice assistants and smart devices• aesthetic, cognitive, and cultural dimensions of listening: attention, immersion, intimacy, listening habits, and sense-making in digital sound environments• emerging languages and hybrid formats: blurred boundaries between podcasts, audio documentaries, oral essays, experimental audio, and other digital spoken-word forms• listening practices, pedagogical potential, and digital sound literacy: listening in formal and informal educational settings; audio as a tool for learning, reflection, and critical engagement; competences for understanding, evaluating, and making use of digital audio contents • production models and sustainability of the digital sound ecosystem: work routines, funding models, and their impact on the configuration of the sector• intellectual property and data exploitation in the sound ecosystem: regulatory frameworks, algorithmic monetization, and tensions between creators, platforms, and audiences • identity, gender, and digital sound culture: voice, representation, and the construction of identities and diversity in podcasts and digital audio. ReferencesArense-Gómez, A., Pérez-Alaejos, M. P. M., Terol Bolinches, R., and Pedrero-Esteban, L. M. (2024) Journalism in the age of audification: Features of narrative non-fiction podcasting in Spain. Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, 22(2).Berry, R. (2015) A golden age of podcasting? Evaluating Serial in the context of podcast histories. Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 22(2), pp. 170-178.Berry, R. (2024) We hardly need to use our ears: Video, audio, and the shaping of the podcast medium in the 2020s. Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, 22, pp. 145-162.García Marín, D. (2020) Mapping the factors that determine engagement in podcasting: Design from the users and podcasters’ experience. Communication & Society, 33(2), pp. 49-63.Harrison, J., Archer-Boyd, A. W., Francombe, C., Pike, C., and Murphy, D. T. (2023) The relationship between environmental context and attentional engagement in podcast listening experiences. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1074320.McHugh, S. (2016) How podcasting is changing the audio storytelling genre. Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, 14(1), pp. 65-82.Pedrero-Esteban, L. M., Moreno-Cazalla, L., and Fernández-Sande, M. (2025) Audio journalism as a vector of strategic, narrative, and commercial transformation for Spanish print media. Communication & Society, 38(2), pp. 199-217.Piñeiro-Otero, T., and Pedrero-Esteban, L. M. (2022) Audio communication in the face of the renaissance of digital audio. Profesional de la Información, 31(5), e310507.Rime, J., Pike, C., and Collins, T. (2022) What is a podcast? Considering innovations in podcasting through the six-tensions framework. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 28(5), pp. 1260-1282.Rodríguez-Ortiz, R., and Fernández-Sande, M. (2025) Analysis of narrative strategies in independent non-fiction narrative podcasts in Ibero-America. Media and Communication, 13, article 9096.Sullivan, J. L. (2019) The platforms of podcasting: Past and present. Social Media + Society, 5(4).Terol, R., Pedrero-Esteban, L. M., and Pérez-Alaejos, M. P. M. (2021) De la radio al audio a la carta: la gestión de las plataformas de podcasting en el mercado hispanohablante. Historia y comunicación social, 26(2), pp. 475-485. Topic editors: Luis Miguel Pedrero Esteban, Manuel Fernández Sande Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78273/narratives-editing-and-expressivity-in-the-digital-audio-ecosystem-from-writing-for-the-ear-to-audiovisual-hybridization