The purpose of this study is to contribute to the knowledge about the importance of listening in modern sound technology and the importance of tradition in reception analysis of literary conversations. The object of inquiry is The poetics of the talking book, a dissertation about how different groups of listeners understand the reception of audio books in literary conversations. The problem explored is: What is the significance of listening in this dissertation? This text analysis has two points of departure. The first point of departure concerns the language used in the dissertation. Results from the study show that the language used is mainly influenced by literary reception and reader response theory, and is therefore misleading to the reader when it comes to listening reception of the talking book. The second point of departure concerns the analytical conceptions used in the dissertation. Results from the study show that the conceptions used comes solely from literary reception and reader response theory, which means that the authors twelve references from listening reception and listening theory are never used in the analysis. The conclusion is that the dissertation seems to be a contradictory representation of a modern expression of audio books, listening research and sound technology and, at the same time, a traditional expression of the western tradition, dominating discourse and literature reception.