This technology may make e-reading faster and more focused

This browser-based software claims that our brain does not read all the letters of any word. It has already memorised some words and reading only a few letters helps it to recognise and interpret meaning.

If you too feel that reading becomes complicated when done on digital devices, then the Bionic reading technology is nothing less than a saviour. This emerging technology developed by typographic designer Renato Casutt claims to make reading ‘faster, better, more focused’. It is a reading software that bolsters the reading flow by guiding the eye through the text through typographic highlights.

Digital reading is rapidly gaining traction among readers. (Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash)

World has drastically changed its reading habit from hard paper copies to digital screens. As per a data by Pew Research Center of early this year, three out of ten Americans now read e-books. Though it becomes handy to carry multiple books in a device, it comes at a cost. Most of the readers do not feel the comfort which they used to get while reading printed books. According to another research by ResearchGate, online reading reduces the speed by 10-30%. Additionally, it generates strain in the eyes and makes reading more noisy, making us lose our attention.

This browser-based software works on the principle that the brain does not read all the letters of any word. It has already memorised some words and reading only a few letters helps it to recognise and interpret meaning. The brain reads faster than the eyes, says the software website.

“Bionic Reading revises texts so that the most concise words are highlighted. This guides the eye over the text and the brain remembers previously learned words more quickly,” it describes.

However, contrary to the claim, many researchers have said that reading faster is not always better. “No matter how quickly you recognise certain words, your brain still has to do the work to understand the sentence,” the conversation writes in an article where it critically examines this technology. It cautions that Bionic Reading may even hinder the comprehension power of readers.

In the absence of any independent research to support the productivity of this technology, users can feel the difference themselves. The following image shows some initial paragraph of this article in Bionic font. One can experience and measure the efficacy itself.

Text is converted into Bionic reading typeface.((Bionic Reading))

How to use Bionic Reading technology ?

Although this developing tool is web browser based, it is available in a couple of iPhone apps and a Mac app (Reeder 5, Lire, Fiery Feeds) as built-in E- reader. It is also available as a Chrome extension and can be accessed in Microsoft Edge, too.

Moreover, one can convert their e-book in the Bionic Reading format by free converter tool for TXT, RTF, RTFD, EPUB, and DOCX files. The documents can then be printed and bionic reading technology can also be utilised in hard copy reading.