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Pushing the Speed of Assistive Technologies for Reading
Author(s) -
Schneps Matthew H.,
Chen Chen,
Pomplun Marc,
Wang Jiahui,
Crosby Anne D.,
Kent Kevin
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
mind, brain, and education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.624
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1751-228X
pISSN - 1751-2271
DOI - 10.1111/mbe.12180
Subject(s) - reading (process) , computer science , dyslexia , reading comprehension , comprehension , mobile device , active listening , cognitive psychology , speech recognition , psychology , communication , linguistics , philosophy , programming language , operating system
People who are practiced in using text‐to‐speech can drive listening speeds to surprisingly high limits. Here, we investigate the extent to which people who are otherwise untrained, with and without dyslexia, can increase their reading speed when forcibly accelerated visual or auditory presentations are used in isolation or in tandem. The experiment examined the reading speed and comprehension of 43 college students using three methods enabled by software on a handheld device: forcibly accelerated visual augmentation, auditory text‐to‐speech, and a combination of the two. We found that both typical and impaired readers attained the highest reading speed using the combined method, controlling for comprehension. Importantly, those with dyslexia using the combined methods reached the equivalent reading speed of typical readers using paper, visual, or auditory methods, with no loss in comprehension. Findings here suggest that in future evolutions—using technologies available today—parallel neurological pathways for language processing can be exploited to optimize reading for those impaired.