Reading With Your Ears

I have only once listened to an audio book, i seem to recall it was narrated by James Marsters who played Spike in Buffy, and although it was pleasant enough, it just didn't seem right that i wasn't reading the words for myself.
Obviously i am in a dwindling minority as sales of audiobooks rose by 43% in 2018 while printed book sales fell by 5% so it could be the days are numbered for those of us who like the look and feel of a real, physical book in our hands.
I did convert to a Kindle a long time ago, mainly because my burgeoning bookcase collection was beginning to take up too much room, but i can't see me taking the step towards audio books, or reading with your ears as i have charmingly heard it referred to.
I'm not sure if it is a younger people thing but there is a steep increase in students facing exams recording themselves speaking the important parts from text books and listening to it continuously and there are scientific studies that suggest that recall is better after reading printed text but it is whatever works for you and hearing something continuously is sure to get it lodged firmly into your memory, or at least long enough to get you through the exam after which you can then replace it with the lyrics from  Ed Sheeran's greatest hits.
My problem seemed to be with audiobooks is that when i read a book, i imagine to voice of the speaker in my head, their accent, tone and inflection so as nice as listening to James Marsters is, the interpretation of all these things is his and not mine and with his American accent, listening to him read something by Dickens or Shakespeare would send me into a spin.
The UK’s leading audiobook retailer, Audible, sold more than 3bn hours of downloads last year so audiobooks are certainly becoming a thing but my second problem with them is that unlike music, you can't multitask while listening to a story being read to you.
It can't be the preference of time pressed book lovers if you have to concentrate on the words being read because you are not really gaining anything if you have to still stop and listen than if you had to stop, sit down and read a book.
As Dickens wrote in A Christmas Carol 'I'll have to be loyal to the old ways and die out with them if needs must' mostly out of loyalty for the traditions of the physical act of reading a book and also because an m4a file will never be as pleasing to see as a dog-earred, well thumbed copy of a beloved classic on your bookshelf.