Rubin Gary S, Feely Mary, Perera Sylvie, Ekstrom Katherin, Williamson Elizabeth
Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, 11-43 Bath Street, London, EC1V 9EL, UK.
Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2006 Nov;26(6):545-54. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-1313.2006.00409.x.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of print size, typeface, and line width on reading speed in readers with mild to moderate sight problems.
A total of 43 patients, most of whom had mild cataract or glaucoma with acuity 6/30 or better (median age = 72; range = 24-88 years), read aloud a selection of texts presented randomly in four sizes (10, 12, 14 and 16 point), for each of four typefaces [Foundry Form Sans (FFS), Helvetica (HV), Tiresias PCfont (TPC), Times New Roman (TNR)] at a standard line width of 70 characters and a viewing distance of 40 cm. A subset of letter sizes and typefaces were tested at two additional line widths (35, 90).
As expected, reading speed increased with print size from a median of 144 words min(-1) for 10-point text to 163 words min(-1) for 16-point text (repeated measures anova, p < 0.0001). There was also a significant effect of typeface with TPC being read about 8 words min(-1) faster, on average, than the other fonts (159 words min(-1) for TPC vs 151 words min(-1) for the other fonts, p < 0.0001). However fonts of the same nominal point size were not equivalent in actual size. When adjusted for the actual horizontal and vertical space occupied, the advantage of TPC was eliminated. There was no effect of line width (p > 0.3). Data from the present study were extrapolated to the general population over age 65. This extrapolation indicated that increasing minimum print size from 10 points to 16 points would increase the proportion of the population able to read fluently (>85 words min(-1)) from 88.0% to 94.4%.
This study shows that line width and typeface have little influence on reading speed in people with mild to moderate sight problems. Increasing the minimum recommended print size from 10 points to 14 or 16 points would significantly increase the proportion of the population able to read fluently.
本研究旨在评估字号、字体和行宽对轻度至中度视力问题读者阅读速度的影响。
共有43名患者，其中大多数患有轻度白内障或青光眼，视力为6/30或更好（中位年龄 = 72岁；范围 = 24 - 88岁），他们以标准行宽70个字符、视距40厘米，大声朗读随机呈现的四种字号（10、12、14和16磅）的一组文本，每种字号对应四种字体[铸造厂无衬线字体（FFS）、 Helvetica字体（HV）、提瑞西阿斯PC字体（TPC）、宋体（TNR）]。部分字号和字体组合在另外两种行宽（35、90）下进行了测试。
正如预期，阅读速度随字号增大而提高，10磅文本的中位阅读速度为每分钟144个单词，16磅文本为每分钟163个单词（重复测量方差分析，p < 0.0001）。字体也有显著影响，平均而言，TPC字体的阅读速度比其他字体快约每分钟8个单词（TPC字体为每分钟159个单词，其他字体为每分钟151个单词，p < 0.0001）。然而，相同标称字号的字体实际大小并不相同。在根据实际占用的水平和垂直空间进行调整后，TPC字体的优势消失。行宽没有影响（p > 0.3）。本研究数据外推至65岁以上的普通人群。这种外推表明，将最小字号从10磅增加到16磅，能够流利阅读（每分钟超过85个单词）的人群比例将从88.0%提高到94.4%。
本研究表明，行宽和字体对轻度至中度视力问题人群的阅读速度影响不大。将最小推荐字号从10磅增加到14或16磅将显著提高能够流利阅读的人群比例。
