3 ms·

So I was checking out your website and thought the product is actually deceivingly simple, but I couldn't find any mentions of actual reading speed improvements

by gomox 4y ago

So I was checking out your website and thought the product is actually deceivingly simple, but I couldn't find any mentions of actual reading speed improvements, other than the invitation to "take the challenge". What kind of speed improvement can I typically expect? Edit: I found the "research summary" link in the education page, but it doesn't appear to work in Chrome with uBlock for me. The actual "conventional" link in the FAQ does work. It might be because the former is not an <a href> but something else.

gnicholas 4y ago
> What kind of speed improvement can I typically expect? For a typical skilled reader, up to about 25-30%. For people with reading challenges (dyslexia, ADHD, vision impairments), it could be much greater. One fellow with ADHD (and two PhDs) said that he could read about 3x the speed with BeeLine versus regular text. To get a sense of what the speed difference could be for you, check out our "Reading Challenge". [1] It's not super scientific (you might have more knowledge of one of the topics already, which would bias your results), but it can give you a ballpark figure. Thanks for pointing out the issue with the research summary link. I'll get that fixed ASAP! There's actually newer research that shows even larger gains for students with reading challenges, as well as data from companies (including a YC company) who saw dramatically lower churn rates and/or higher engagement for users reading with BeeLine in their apps. 1: https://www.beelinereader.com/challenge https://www.beelinereader.com/challenge
- gomox 4y ago
  I mean I'm hardly an expert on your business but it seems to me like you might want to put that front and center at the very top of your website. "Read 30 to 300% faster with Beeline." Cool stuff!
- mjreacher 4y ago
  Has there been much scientific research into how much improvement you can get through beeline or other similar tools like bionic reading?
  - gnicholas 4y ago
    There have been several educational studies about BeeLine, and they've shown various benefits for reading fluency (which is measured as correct WPM) and reading comprehension. These were done with kids as young as six, but mostly older. There was also a study done in an optometric office with patients, who saw improvements in visual tracking, not surprisingly. Various of our partners have also tracked to see how user behavior differs between people reading with BeeLine and people reading traditional black text. These have shown increases in article completion rates, average scroll depth, pages per session, and app usage. All of these studies were done independently and were not compensated. I don't know about bionic — they're pretty new, so I imagine they don't have a ton of research at this time.
- stavros_ 4y ago
  Cool software. I have ADHD and it definitely made reading more comfortable (only 21% faster, but I read a LOT so that's not too surprising.) Hope it succeeds enough with commercial partners (especially ereaders!) that you can offer the browser extension for free on Chrome someday.
  - gnicholas 4y ago
    > Hope it succeeds enough with commercial partners (especially ereaders!) that you can offer the browser extension for free on Chrome someday. This is 100% our plan. As our B2B revenue goes up, we will reduce our B2C pricing, hopefully to $0. We've already released one tool for free, our iOS extension for Safari. [1] 1: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/beeline-extension/id1571623734 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/beeline-extension/id1571623734
- denimnerd42 4y ago
  I got 27% cool!
  - gnicholas 4y ago
    Glad to hear it! This thread is super awesome, and it's starting to remind me of our Show HN [1] from back in the day. Love this community! 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6335784 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6335784
- oefnak 4y ago
  I found the colours extremely distracting, and the test didn't give any results because I was better/faster without them. You still should give numbers in such a case.

by gomox 4y ago

gnicholas 4y ago

> What kind of speed improvement can I typically expect? For a typical skilled reader, up to about 25-30%. For people with reading challenges (dyslexia, ADHD, vision impairments), it could be much greater. One fellow with ADHD (and two PhDs) said that he could read about 3x the speed with BeeLine versus regular text. To get a sense of what the speed difference could be for you, check out our "Reading Challenge". [1] It's not super scientific (you might have more knowledge of one of the topics already, which would bias your results), but it can give you a ballpark figure. Thanks for pointing out the issue with the research summary link. I'll get that fixed ASAP! There's actually newer research that shows even larger gains for students with reading challenges, as well as data from companies (including a YC company) who saw dramatically lower churn rates and/or higher engagement for users reading with BeeLine in their apps. 1: https://www.beelinereader.com/challenge https://www.beelinereader.com/challenge

gomox 4y ago
I mean I'm hardly an expert on your business but it seems to me like you might want to put that front and center at the very top of your website. "Read 30 to 300% faster with Beeline." Cool stuff!
mjreacher 4y ago
Has there been much scientific research into how much improvement you can get through beeline or other similar tools like bionic reading?
- gnicholas 4y ago
  There have been several educational studies about BeeLine, and they've shown various benefits for reading fluency (which is measured as correct WPM) and reading comprehension. These were done with kids as young as six, but mostly older. There was also a study done in an optometric office with patients, who saw improvements in visual tracking, not surprisingly. Various of our partners have also tracked to see how user behavior differs between people reading with BeeLine and people reading traditional black text. These have shown increases in article completion rates, average scroll depth, pages per session, and app usage. All of these studies were done independently and were not compensated. I don't know about bionic — they're pretty new, so I imagine they don't have a ton of research at this time.
stavros_ 4y ago
Cool software. I have ADHD and it definitely made reading more comfortable (only 21% faster, but I read a LOT so that's not too surprising.) Hope it succeeds enough with commercial partners (especially ereaders!) that you can offer the browser extension for free on Chrome someday.
- gnicholas 4y ago
  > Hope it succeeds enough with commercial partners (especially ereaders!) that you can offer the browser extension for free on Chrome someday. This is 100% our plan. As our B2B revenue goes up, we will reduce our B2C pricing, hopefully to $0. We've already released one tool for free, our iOS extension for Safari. [1] 1: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/beeline-extension/id1571623734 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/beeline-extension/id1571623734
denimnerd42 4y ago
I got 27% cool!
- gnicholas 4y ago
  Glad to hear it! This thread is super awesome, and it's starting to remind me of our Show HN [1] from back in the day. Love this community! 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6335784 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6335784
oefnak 4y ago
I found the colours extremely distracting, and the test didn't give any results because I was better/faster without them. You still should give numbers in such a case.