Age factor affects reading acuity and reading speed in attaining text information
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Ai-Hong Chen. Optometry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Cawangan Selangor, Kampus Puncak Alam 42300, Malaysia. aihong0707@yahoo.com

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Supported by the Research Grant Scheme 600-IRMI-DANA 5/3/BESTARI (00013/2016) and 600-IRMI/MYRA 5/3/MITRA (007/2017)-2 from the Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

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    Abstract:

    AIM: To investigate the effect of age on reading acuity and reading speed in attaining text information in healthy eyes. METHODS: Reading acuity, critical print size, reading speed and maximum reading speed were measured in groups of 40 children (8 to 12 years old), 40 teenagers (13 to 19 years old), 40 young adults (20 to 39 years old), and 40 adults (40 years old and above) using the Buari-Chen Malay Reading Chart [contextual sentences (CS) set and random words (RW) set] in a cross-sectional study design. RESULTS: Reading acuity was significantly improved by 0.04 logMAR for both CS set and RW set from children to teenagers, then gradually worsened from young adults to adults (CS set: 0.06 logMAR; RW set: 0.08 logMAR). Critical print size for children showed a significant improvement in teenagers (CS set: 0.14 logMAR; RW set: 0.07 logMAR), then deteriorated from young adults to adults by 0.09 logMAR only for CS set. Reading speed significantly increased from children to teenagers, [CS set: 46.20 words per minute (wpm); RW set: 42.06 wpm], then stabilized from teenagers to young adults, and significantly reduced from young adults to adults (CS set: 28.58 wpm; RW set: 24.44 wpm). Increment and decrement in maximum reading speed measurement were revealed from children to teenagers (CS set: 39.38 wpm; RW set: 43.38 wpm) and from young adults to adults (CS set: 22.26 wpm; RW set: 26.31 wpm) respectively. CONCLUSION: The reference of age-related findings in term of acuity and speed of reading should be incorporated in clinical practice to enhance reading assessment among healthy eyes population.

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Ai-Hong Chen, Nursyairah Mohd Khalid, Noor Halilah Buari. Age factor affects reading acuity and reading speed in attaining text information. Int J Ophthalmol, 2019,12(7):1170-1176

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Publication History
  • Received:March 11,2018
  • Revised:October 22,2018
  • Adopted:
  • Online: June 11,2019
  • Published: