According to Share of Ear®, daily audio listening has held steady at roughly four hours per day for several years, with Americans ages 13+ spending an average of 3 hours and 57 minutes listening each day in Q2 2026. This week’s insight will take a closer look at how that listening time measures up across generations, and which age groups over-index for daily audio share. 

Share of Ear is a nationally representative survey, with a respondent age composition that matches the U.S. population 13+. The most recent data release shows that younger age segments account for a higher share of audio consumption relative to their population size. Zoomers, ages 13-29, represent one-quarter of the U.S. population age 13+ but have 28% share of the daily audio listening, resulting in an index of 112. Millennials, people between the ages of 30 and 45, represent a slightly higher percentage of the population as well as a slightly higher percentage of daily audio listening, earning them an index of 109. Gen X, people between 46 and 61, and Boomers, those 62 and over, account for a smaller slice of the listening pie than they do for the population pie. Gen X has an index just below average at 97. Boomers are the lowest of the four groups, with an index of 80.

Subscribe to Share of Ear to gain access to which devices, platforms, and locations these groups use to consume audio daily.