Using technology to change how we read

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The use of the auditory channel is one reason TTS is so valuable to dyslexics and slow readers. Now tell that to the tradpubs who block TTS on their titles.

Actually, simply reading with an audio channel doesn't help dyslexics all that much. I use to tutor dyslexics in high school (the school I went to had one of the best dyslexia programs around at the time). At the time, the standard method was to have the student read aloud and correct them as they read. Now a program where the student could read aloud and be corrected might be very useful and very doable.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's been known for centuries that short lines increase reading speed. That's precisely why newspapers are printed in narrow columns.

I have a vague notion that I've seen formulas to determine optimal line length depending on the font size. It's obvious that small fonts are perfectly readable in a narrow column, but wider columns need larger fonts.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I have a vague notion that I've seen formulas to determine optimal line length depending on the font size. It's obvious that small fonts are perfectly readable in a narrow column, but wider columns need larger fonts.

The important thing for reading speed is that the line is sufficiently narrow to allow you to read the entire line without having to move your eyes to take it all in. As has been said, that probably does mean that wider lines can be used on computer monitors, since most people read a monitor at a greater distance than that at which they'd read a newspaper.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Actually, simply reading with an audio channel doesn't help dyslexics all that much. I use to tutor dyslexics in high school (the school I went to had one of the best dyslexia programs around at the time). At the time, the standard method was to have the student read aloud and correct them as they read. Now a program where the student could read aloud and be corrected might be very useful and very doable.

I have friends who are dyslexic who *hated* those programs.

Their preferred approach is, in fact, TTS on Kindle.
(Cold dead hands and all that.)
Non-judgmental, runs at their pace. And the material is stuff they love to read, not pre-selected litfic. Very smart folks. One's a physicist, the other is a tech writer for a rather large software firm.

Standard programs often hurt more than they help.
Which is where the cognitive sciences folks are coming in. Clean sheet studies to figure out what really works, not what "educators" think should work.