Electronic Text Readability Issues for the Visually Impaired

Abstract

A 2x5x2x3 (visual capability, font size, polarity, and contrast) repeated-measures design was used to determine if readability of electronic text can be improved for people with low vision. The results show that alterations can be made to the typeface of displayed characters that do not affect unimpaired vision readers while dramatically improving the readability of the impaired vision population. The key characteristic for low vision readers was found to be font size. Letters of at least 24 points were needed to maximize readability in this study. If letters smaller than this were used, negative polarity and smaller contrast ratios were found to decrease reading performance.