The audiobook narrator changed halfway through the series, and now every character feels wrong

I listened to the first four books of a mystery series during my commute. The narrator’s voice became inseparable from the characters. The detective spoke quickly but softened around his daughter. The neighbor had a tiny pause before every lie. Even the chapter openings carried a rhythm that told my brain I was back in that world.

The fifth book has a different narrator.

Nothing about the new performance is objectively poor. The recording is clear, the pacing is competent and the voices are distinct. They are simply not the people I have known for sixty hours. The detective now sounds older and more formal. The daughter’s voice is higher. The neighbor no longer pauses, which makes truthful sentences sound suspicious because I keep waiting for a habit that belongs to another performer.

I tried increasing the playback speed. I tried listening while doing chores so I would pay less attention to the voices. I made it through three chapters and realized I had retained almost none of the plot because I was comparing every line.

The print edition is an option, but audio is how this series fits into my life. My commute is too crowded for comfortable reading, and by evening I want something that does not require my eyes. Starting the print book would also mean changing the ritual, not just the voice.

A friend suggested replaying a favorite chapter from an earlier book in the new narrator’s sample if one exists, so the transition happens on familiar ground. Another said that would make the comparison worse. I could also pause the series for a month and let the old performance fade.

How long do you give a replacement narrator before deciding the format no longer works? Are there practical ways to reset the voices in your head, or is the attachment part of what made the audiobook experience valuable in the first place?