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Thank you everyone for these thoughtful and helpful replies. Rcentros: if the 5.6.5 is from 2015, I expect it should be fine. Thank you again for linking to this kindle for sale, I will likely contact the seller.
The Kindle 4th generation (the one I bought recently) has version 4.1.4 firmware, which is the most recent version from 2019, as I was able to look up yesterday. In terms of the layout, it is not the same as the new firmware version on my Kindle 7th generation, but has some similarities (compared the older version of the Kindle 7th generation firmware I had bene using before); however in terms of the new appearance of the text and its triggering my symptoms, it is about the same.
One thing I am wondering about is the 5.6.5 version firmware for Kindle 7 that is from 2015, and the 4.1.4 version firmware for Kindle 4 that is from 2019. Evidently the first number of the versions means different things for different Kindles? I.e. perhaps we can't compare the chronology of firmware versions based on the first number alone, without considering which type of Kindle it applies to.
Sirtel: this is also very helpful, thank you. The issue is a mysterious one. There is an entire forum -- Ledstrain.org -- devoted to the issue, which is experienced by a minority of people. The forum has been around for about seven years, as I recall, and many of the contributors seem to be IT people; after all this time and all the acuity and expertise of the contributors trying feverishly to find out the cause of the problem, they remain almost as clueless as seven years ago. Different people are often triggered by different things, different things often work for different people. The only consensus is that the problem is triggered by newer devices (or software versions), whereas people are fine with older ones. The forum is called LEDstrain; of course Kindle is not LED, but the problem does extend to e-ink for many people. What is more, some people are fine with certain e-ink devices while they have problems with others. It is indeed surprising that a few software version alone could trigger the problem, but this has been reported many times by users of the forum (though not with Kindle to my knowledge); they were perfectly fine using their computer/laptop for years, then there was a Windows update, and they can now no longer use their device. My only current basis for determining whether something will work for me is trial and error, and orienting myself on older devices where possible. Incidentally, there are a number of theories about the cause this problem, like "temporal dithering," or "PWM," or Binocular Vision Dysfunction (or others), but certainly no consensus. I should mention in passing that my new Samsung A7 tablet gives me absolutely horrible symptoms right away, whereas I am able to use my Lenovo Ideapad 100S from 2014 quite well, though with extended reading I do get symptoms.
I have not experimented with fonts within the new firmware yet, I suppose I could try simply to rule out that this is not the problem, thank you for this idea.
I did not know about the Kobo, this is also worth looking into in case I cannot find a resolution for Kindle.
I am quite confident it is not psychological, but thank you for bringing up this possibility, as it could certainly be considered a possibility based on the situation as I described it.
NullNix: thanks for bringing my attention to Bookerly, I didn't know about this and will look into it! Sirtel: perhaps the Kindle 4 with its 2019 firmware version (4.1.4) would have Bookerly?
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