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Article published In: Information Design Journal
Vol. 26:1 (2021) ► pp.73–88

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Increased letter spacing and greater letter width improve reading acuity in low vision readers

ORCiD logo with link | Centre for Visibility Design at the Royal Danish Academy
 | Centre for Visibility Design at the Royal Danish Academy
 | Department of Ophthalmology, Rigshospitalet
ORCiD logo with link | Department of Ophthalmology, Rigshospitalet | Department of Clinical Medicine at University of Copenhagen
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 28 April 2021
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https://doi.org/10.1075/idj.19033.bei
Abstract
Low vision readers depend on magnification, but magnification reduces the amount of text that can be overviewed and hampers text navigation. In this study, we evaluate the effects that font variations letter spacing, letter width, and letter boldness have on low vision reading. We tested 20 low-vision patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and used the Radner Reading Chart, which measures reading acuity (logRAD), maximum reading speed, and critical print size. The results demonstrated a small, but measurable effect of letter spacing and letter width on reading acuity near critical font sizes.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methods
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Test material
    • 2.3Experimental design
    • 2.4Procedure
    • 2.5Data analysis
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Reading acuity
    • 3.2Maximum reading speed
    • 3.3Critical print size
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Isolating font variables
    • 4.2Letter boldness
    • 4.3Horizontal area
    • 4.4Letter spacing
    • 4.5Implications of the results
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
References (63)
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