The increasing use of accelerated playback speeds in audiobooks raises important questions about how temporal compression affects speech comprehension. Although faster playback enhances convenience and efficiency, prior research indicates that comprehension declines as speech rate increases. In spoken language, suprasegmental features (SSFs), including pitch, intonation, stress, rhythm, and pausing, are essential for signaling emphasis, emotional tone, and narrative structure. Compression of acoustic information at higher playback speeds may reduce access to prosodic cues that support higher-level interpretation. Despite evidence of general comprehension decline under acceleration, relatively little research has examined how playback speed specifically influences suprasegmental processing or how individual cognitive differences shape listeners’ adaptation. Narrative comprehension often involves the construction of internal mental imagery; however, imagery vividness varies substantially across individuals, raising the possibility that imagery ability moderates' sensitivity to prosodic disruption. The present study investigated how audiobook playback speeds (1.0x, 1.4x, and 1.8x) affect comprehension of SSF, with visual imagery ability assessed using the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). Results revealed a modest association between imagery vividness and accuracy on prosody-dependent questions, particularly at 1.4x speed. Whereas factual comprehension remained relatively stable across speeds, SSF-dependent comprehension was more susceptible to increased playback rate and imagery variability. These findings support a component-based model of auditory comprehension in which prosodic processing relies on cognitive resources that are especially vulnerable under heightened temporal demands.