1 The Effects of Word Isolators and Text Size on Reading Speeds in Patients with Age- Related Macular Degeneration

Age related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a retinal disease causing distress to the Macula, a critical area for vision. The Macula is crucial for central vision, image resolution, as well as fine detail. The prevalence of AMD among the visually impaired is high; however, there is no known cure for this disease (Khandhadia et al., 2012). Reading speeds of these patients are significantly reduced. The objective of the experiment was to analyze the relationship between word isolation and reading speeds in those pre-diagnosed with AMD. An additional objective was to identify a correlation between varying text size and reading speed. 25 participants were asked to read a page from 3 different books that varied in text size. The first time, when participants read a page from the three different books, the surrounding words were visible. The second time, the participants were asked to read a different page from the same 3 books, but this time surrounding words were covered by an index card. Findings of this experiment showed that there was a positive correlation between text size and reading speeds (R2 = 0.92 without isolator and R2 = 0.97 with isolator.) With the addition of the index card to block out surrounding words, 92 % (23/25) of the test subjects had experienced stimulated reading levels. In order to improve this study, we will use a wider variety of text sizes to find out which is optimum for patients with Age-related Macular Degeneration