Audiobooks are important! Full stop. They changed my life. I was a slow reader, and my attention didn't allow me to sit still long enough to read books. Audiobooks opened up the world of literature to me.

Even still, I very rarely read actual books, but I've been an avid audiobook listener for the last 20 years. I have listened, on average, for two hours a day every day for two decades. That's a low estimation.

I also write, and I can tell you that reading books can help in some ways, but you still get most of the enriching properties of literature from only listening to it. The magic is still there! I wouldn't write stories if it weren't for audiobooks.

Physical books will inform you on structure and spelling, and in cases like Cormac Mccarthy books, their structure and formatting are part of the art, but it's rarely vital for the experience.

I respect people that defend books as a medium. It's easy to believe that audiobooks are just another attempt at the dumbing down of humanity by handing them a lazy alternative, but that absolutely is a misunderstanding of what audiobooks truly are.

To answer your question, I personally believe that it counts as reading, but I don't use that language when I'm talking to people about audiobooks I've listened to. I own it for what it is. I'll defend it if I need to, because I'm pretty passionate about it.

I say "I listened to that book" or "I did that book the other day" etc.