We tested the impact of several different typefaces on legibility in people with dyslexia. We prepared four short texts, each written in a different font. We took special care to ensure that the texts were approximately the same length, had the same font size, and the same line spacing, thereby ensuring equal conditions for all test subjects. In addition to the text itself, we prepared two questions for each, one designed to test reading comprehension, and the other to test short-term memory. After reading the texts and answering the questions, we also asked the participants to share with us their subjective impressions and experiences of reading in different fonts. Analysis of the collected data showed that reading time differed considerably between individuals. Each reader experienced the fonts in their own way; for some, fonts adapted to people with dyslexia were an aid to reading, while for others, these fonts were more difficult to read or even distracting. After calculating the average reading time for each font, we found that the fastest reading time was for the text written in Arial, which is a general and non-adapted font. On the other hand, the longest reading time was for the text written in Sylexiad Sans Spaced Med, which is adapted for people with dyslexia. This was somewhat surprising, as we expected that adapted fonts would enable faster and more fluent reading.
A similar picture emerged when analyzing the responses to the follow-up questions. The text with the highest percentage of correct answers was the text written in Comic Sans MS, which indicates that this font had a positive effect on understanding and memorizing the content. In contrast, the text in Sylexiad Sans Spaced Med achieved the worst results, meaning that it was more difficult to understand or less effective in supporting cognitive processes that are key to reading and memorizing.
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