It is now common practice for instructional
designers to incorporate digitally recorded
lectures for Podcasts (e.g., iTunes University),
voice-over presentations (e.g., PowerPoint),
animated screen captures with narration (e.g.,
Camtasia), and other various learning objects
with digital audio in the instructional method. As
a result, learners are spending more time learning
from audio-enhanced digital learning materials
for both formal and informal purposes. In this
paper, we present digital time-compression as a
way to reduce the amount of time learners will
spend on a learning task, while still maintaining
acceptable intelligibility, pitch, and scores on
important dependent measures (e.g., recall,
recognition, comprehension, satisfaction).
Research dating back to the 1950s is reviewed
and framed in the context of multimedia learning
environments. Recent research developments
are reviewed and a discussion is provided
emphasizing several design principles for
this technology. Recommendations for future
research are provided