3 ms·

I’ve used both Bionic Reading while on Reeder, and the Open Dyslexic font while on Kindle, for several years to similar effect. My personal finding is that it

I’ve used both Bionic Reading while on Reeder, and the Open Dyslexic font while on Kindle, for several years to similar effect. My personal finding is that it makes the work my eyes need to do to keep on the line, and move from line to line easier. But I will note that the largest increase in reading speed for me, up to 800 words per minute, came from single word focusing. There are tools, such as speed reader mode in Emacs, or an old browser extension called Squid, that take the readable text and put it all on one line, then move the text through a window that stays fixed on the screen. By training yourself to relax and not read the words aloud, I was able to increase my reading speed from around 200 wpm to over 800 wpm. The trick is to slowly ramp up the speed, and not just jump up to the fastest speed possible. It’s also important to remember to blink. Alternatively, text to speech works for to in a similar way, and I’ve found that I can handle 2.5x - 3.5x speeds after a few hours of training. As a bonus, nobody else can decider what you’re listening to, and you get some funny looks. Let me know if others have found similar techniques to work for them.

Llamamoe 5y ago
Out of curiosity, how do dyslexic friendly fonts work? Are they easier for everyone, or is it a case of compensating dyslexia related deficits specifically?
- gnicholas 5y ago
  There are a couple popular dyslexic-friendly fonts, OpenDyslexic [1] and Dyslexie. [2] My understanding is that the first is free and the second is not. What they have in common is that both are quite heavy fonts (thick lines), and with a bit of extra kerning (space between letters). They are also designed to have 'b' and 'd' (and other mirror-image pairs) that do not look like mirror images. I have worked in this field for years, as the founder of BeeLine Reader. [3] We received a lot of requests to offer one of these fonts, and we've used OpenDyslexic for quite some time. I know some people really like it. At the same time, dyslexia researchers (especially those in the US) insist that dyslexia is not a visual condition, and that fonts cannot make a difference. I tend to believe that even if it is not an issue that is primarily visual, that doesn't meant that adjustments to how text is presented can't make things better. This seems to be the sense among (1) researchers outside the US, (2) individuals with dyslexia worldwide, and (3) many assistive technology or SPED workers in the US — despite what US-based researchers say. 1: https://opendyslexic.org/ https://opendyslexic.org/ 2: https://www.dyslexiefont.com/ https://www.dyslexiefont.com/ 3: https://www.beelinereader.com https://www.beelinereader.com
  - Llamamoe 5y ago
    Do you have any other assistive technology examples other than beeline reader? That thing is absolutely fantastic, I love it.
    - gnicholas 5y ago
      You could check out Helperbird, which offers various readability tweaks. [1] Glad you like BeeLine — we've integrated with several HN/YC'ers, ranging from blogs [2] to mobile apps. [3] Please feel free to reach out (developer@beelinereader.com) if you're interested in working together. 1: https://www.helperbird.com/ https://www.helperbird.com/ 2: https://wildcardpeople.com/what-is-a-wildcard-person https://wildcardpeople.com/what-is-a-wildcard-person 3: https://insightbrowser.com/collections/reading https://insightbrowser.com/collections/reading
Llamamoe 5y ago
Speaking of listening to sped up speech, I wonder if there's any tricks like BR possible for speech. Hm.

Llamamoe 5y ago

Out of curiosity, how do dyslexic friendly fonts work? Are they easier for everyone, or is it a case of compensating dyslexia related deficits specifically?

gnicholas 5y ago
There are a couple popular dyslexic-friendly fonts, OpenDyslexic [1] and Dyslexie. [2] My understanding is that the first is free and the second is not. What they have in common is that both are quite heavy fonts (thick lines), and with a bit of extra kerning (space between letters). They are also designed to have 'b' and 'd' (and other mirror-image pairs) that do not look like mirror images. I have worked in this field for years, as the founder of BeeLine Reader. [3] We received a lot of requests to offer one of these fonts, and we've used OpenDyslexic for quite some time. I know some people really like it. At the same time, dyslexia researchers (especially those in the US) insist that dyslexia is not a visual condition, and that fonts cannot make a difference. I tend to believe that even if it is not an issue that is primarily visual, that doesn't meant that adjustments to how text is presented can't make things better. This seems to be the sense among (1) researchers outside the US, (2) individuals with dyslexia worldwide, and (3) many assistive technology or SPED workers in the US — despite what US-based researchers say. 1: https://opendyslexic.org/ https://opendyslexic.org/ 2: https://www.dyslexiefont.com/ https://www.dyslexiefont.com/ 3: https://www.beelinereader.com https://www.beelinereader.com
- Llamamoe 5y ago
  Do you have any other assistive technology examples other than beeline reader? That thing is absolutely fantastic, I love it.
  - gnicholas 5y ago
    You could check out Helperbird, which offers various readability tweaks. [1] Glad you like BeeLine — we've integrated with several HN/YC'ers, ranging from blogs [2] to mobile apps. [3] Please feel free to reach out (developer@beelinereader.com) if you're interested in working together. 1: https://www.helperbird.com/ https://www.helperbird.com/ 2: https://wildcardpeople.com/what-is-a-wildcard-person https://wildcardpeople.com/what-is-a-wildcard-person 3: https://insightbrowser.com/collections/reading https://insightbrowser.com/collections/reading

Llamamoe 5y ago

Speaking of listening to sped up speech, I wonder if there's any tricks like BR possible for speech. Hm.