Braille Reading Speed Research Articles

Assessing the impact of auditory media on Braille reading and writing skills: The case of elementary school students who are blind in Sudan

This study explores the impact of using auditory media in school curricula on the braille-related skills of students who are blind at a Sudanese school. Three sets of braille-related skills (6-dot braille writing, Arabic alphabet writing, and Arabic text reading) were used to evaluate and compare the students’ ability to read braille versus listening to text via audio media. The purpose of testing full cells of braille writing was to determine writing speed while that of testing braille writing of the Arabic alphabet was to examine students’ accuracy and proficiency in writing. Arabic text reading was tested to determine braille-reading speed. The three braille-related skills were evaluated for a total of 34 students in two groups (Group 1: grades 3 and 4; Group 2: grades 5–8), but the listening speed test was only administered to the second group. T-tests were used to compare the results for the braille-related tests with those for the listening speed test to determine whether braille-related skills were affected by the use of auditory media when accessing school curricula in the early grades of elementary school. The statistical results indicated there were significant differences between the two groups in 6-dot writing and Arabic text reading, whereas there was no significant difference in Arabic alphabet writing. As mastery of braille is an integrated process that requires instruction towards the parallel development of all braille-related skills, the ratio of instructional time devoted to listening compared to that devoted to braille may require adjustment.

Exploring Correlates of Braille Reading Performance in Working-age and Older Adults with Visual Impairments

ABSTRACT Tactile, motor and cognitive capacities decline with age, but little is known about how this relates to braille reading outcomes. This study investigated correlates of braille reading speed among working-age and older adults. Texts were read in two modes (oral/silent) and two media (paper/electronic braille display) by 46 blind adults (age range 23–88) who learned braille between the ages of 4 and 63. Participants completed demographic questionnaires and tests of tactile acuity, fine-motor dexterity and working-memory. A relationship between decreased performance in tactile sensitivity and increased age was observed, but no relationship between increased age and braille reading speed was found. Active tactile acuity, reading frequency and braille learning age were significantly correlated with braille reading speed. No significant difference based on medium was observed, though silent reading was significantly faster than reading aloud. Findings underscore the importance of providing opportunities for older braille learners to secure training and to have frequent opportunities to practice braille between sessions. Findings also challenge the suggestion that increased age alone will impede braille learning. The most significant barrier faced by older braille learners is not their age, but challenges that could instead be addressed through policy and practice changes.

Perspectives on Literacy by Four Adolescents, Their Teachers, and Family Members

Introduction: To better understand the process students with visual impairments experience in learning and using braille as a literacy medium, the researchers conducted interviews. The role of technology in the literacy experiences of the students was also examined. Methods: Individual interviews were conducted with four triads (a student, a teacher, and a family member). Five themes were identified across the interviews. Results: There were similarities and differences in how braille was introduced and taught to each student. None of the four students had a braille reading speed of more than 30 words per minute, and each struggled to use braille and technology to keep up with academic classes. Students and family members reported an emotional effect in regard to the loss of vision and the need to transition from print to braille. Discussion: Although instructional approaches differed, the teachers used strategies and materials based on their students’ interests and abilities. Family members were supportive of their children learning braille and using technology. The students recognized that their braille reading was slow and that there was much to learn in order to succeed academically both now and in the future. Implications for practitioners: Today’s students with visual impairments need multiple methods to complete literacy tasks. Practitioners must design programs that allow students to gain necessary skills with braille and technology so that they can meaningfully integrate braille and technology as tools in their literacy toolbox.

The effects of reading mode and braille reading patterns on braille reading speed and comprehension: A study of students with visual impairments in China

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of reading mode (oral and silent reading) and braille reading patterns (one-handed pattern, mark pattern, parallel pattern, cooperative pattern) on the reading speed and comprehension of students with visual impairments in China. Seventy-three students with visual impairments aged 10–19 years participated in the study; 48 were students with congenital visual impairments and 25 were students with adventitious visual impairments. The participants’ braille reading performance was assessed by the Chinese Reading Comprehension Test. Measurement indicators included reading speed (wpm) and reading comprehension. The results indicated that (1) Reading mode had a significant effect on both reading speed and reading comprehension. More specifically, although participants read faster in silent reading than in oral reading, they demonstrated better reading comprehension in oral reading than in silent reading. (2) There was a significant interaction effect between reading mode and braille reading patterns on reading speed. In particular, participants using cooperative and one-handed patterns read faster than other patterns in silent reading. This difference did not exist in the oral reading mode. (3) There was no difference between the measurement indicators of the students with congenital and adventitious visual impairments. Implications and recommendations are given based on the analyses.

Effect of modulating braille dot height on reading regressions.

It is well known that people who read print or braille sometimes make eye or finger movements against the reading direction. The way these regressions are elicited has been studied in detail by manipulating linguistic aspects of the reading material. Actually, it has been shown that reducing the physical intensity or clarity of the visual input signal can also lead to increased regressions during reading. We asked whether the same might be true in the haptic realm while reading braille. We set the height of braille dots at three different levels (high, medium, and low) and asked adult blind, practiced braille readers to read standardized texts without any repetition of content. The results show that setting the braille dot height near the tactile threshold significantly increased the frequency of regressive finger movements. Additionally, at the lowest braille dot height, braille reading speed significantly diminished. These effects did not occur at braille dot heights that were closer to the height of standard braille (medium and high). We tentatively conclude that this effect may be due to a heightened sense of uncertainty elicited by perception near the threshold that seems to be common to the reading process, independent of the sensory input modality. Furthermore, the described effect may be a feature of a brain area that contributes to the reading process mediated by vision as well as touch.

Increasing the autonomy of deafblind individuals through direct access to content broadcasted on digital terrestrial television

ABSTRACT Digital terrestrial television currently incorporates accessibility elements for the deaf (closed captions, CCs) and for the blind (audio description and audio navigation), however the deafblind population has particular accessibility needs that to date have not been met. This work presents a technical aid (a mobile application called GoAll) developed to increase the autonomy of deafblind individuals, allowing direct access to content broadcast on digital TV through the reading of CCs either with a mobile device or a Braille display. The information in this study is based on the data generated by the application server during the 5 months it was in operation in Spain as well as data from a usability survey conducted on nine deafblind individuals. The results show that 55% of the people used the application between 5 and 7 days a week and did so in the most popular time slots; those surveyed watch news, movies, documentaries, reality shows, and entertainment shows. Noteworthy is fact that all survey respondents said they felt they had greater autonomy with this application. The limitations of the proposed solution involve two elements: Braille reading (knowledge and speed of reading) and the constraints of CCs, since they are used as an input for technical assistance.

Relationships between Braille Reading Speed and Braille Reading Trajectory

<b>Relationships between Braille Reading Speed and Braille Reading T</b><b>rajectory </b>

Universal Visual Features Might Be Necessary for Fluent Reading. A Longitudinal Study of Visual Reading in Braille and Cyrillic Alphabets

It has been hypothesized that efficient reading is possible because all reading scripts have been matched, through cultural evolution, to the natural capabilities of the visual cortex. This matching has resulted in all scripts being made of line-junctions, such as T, X, or L. Our aim was to test a critical prediction of this hypothesis: visual reading in an atypical script that is devoid of line-junctions (such as the Braille alphabet read visually) should be much less efficient than reading in a “normal” script (e.g., Cyrillic). Using a lexical decision task, we examined Visual Braille reading speed and efficiency in sighted Braille teachers. As a control, we tested learners of a natural visual script, Cyrillic. Both groups participated in a two semester course of either visual Braille or Russian while their reading speed and accuracy was tested at regular intervals. The results show that visual Braille reading is slow, prone to errors and highly serial, even in Braille readers with years of prior reading experience. Although subjects showed some improvements in their visual Braille reading accuracy and speed following the course, the effect of word length on reading speed (typically observed in beginning readers) was remained very sizeable through all testing sessions. These results are in stark contrast to Cyrillic, a natural script, where only 3 months of learning were sufficient to achieve relative proficiency. Taken together, these results suggest that visual features such as line junctions and their combinations might be necessary for efficient reading.

Braille in the Sighted: Teaching Tactile Reading to Sighted Adults.

Blind people are known to have superior perceptual abilities in their remaining senses. Several studies suggest that these enhancements are dependent on the specific experience of blind individuals, who use those remaining senses more than sighted subjects. In line with this view, sighted subjects, when trained, are able to significantly progress in relatively simple tactile tasks. However, the case of complex tactile tasks is less obvious, as some studies suggest that visual deprivation itself could confer large advantages in learning them. It remains unclear to what extent those complex skills, such as braille reading, can be learnt by sighted subjects. Here we enrolled twenty-nine sighted adults, mostly braille teachers and educators, in a 9-month braille reading course. At the beginning of the course, all subjects were naive in tactile braille reading. After the course, almost all were able to read whole braille words at a mean speed of 6 words-per-minute. Subjects with low tactile acuity did not differ significantly in braille reading speed from the rest of the group, indicating that low tactile acuity is not a limiting factor for learning braille, at least at this early stage of learning. Our study shows that most sighted adults can learn whole-word braille reading, given the right method and a considerable amount of motivation. The adult sensorimotor system can thus adapt, to some level, to very complex tactile tasks without visual deprivation. The pace of learning in our group was comparable to congenitally and early blind children learning braille in primary school, which suggests that the blind’s mastery of complex tactile tasks can, to a large extent, be explained by experience-dependent mechanisms.

Massive cortical reorganization in sighted Braille readers.

The brain is capable of large-scale reorganization in blindness or after massive injury. Such reorganization crosses the division into separate sensory cortices (visual, somatosensory...). As its result, the visual cortex of the blind becomes active during tactile Braille reading. Although the possibility of such reorganization in the normal, adult brain has been raised, definitive evidence has been lacking. Here, we demonstrate such extensive reorganization in normal, sighted adults who learned Braille while their brain activity was investigated with fMRI and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Subjects showed enhanced activity for tactile reading in the visual cortex, including the visual word form area (VWFA) that was modulated by their Braille reading speed and strengthened resting-state connectivity between visual and somatosensory cortices. Moreover, TMS disruption of VWFA activity decreased their tactile reading accuracy. Our results indicate that large-scale reorganization is a viable mechanism recruited when learning complex skills.

The effect of sentence factors and individual factor on braille reading speed

The effect of sentence factors and individual factor on braille reading speed

Is literacy for blind people under threat? Does braille have a future?

Changes to braille to produce a Unified English Braille (UEB) have caused grave concerns among some braillists. Proponents of UEB claim it will make braille easier to learn and produce and ensure uniformity of practice in the English-speaking world. Section ‘Introduction’ puts the controversy into its wider historical context, citing research showing braille has always been changing. Part A brings out some of braille’s problems in relation to ink-print: quantity and complexity of braille signs, heavier demands on children and newly blind adults in learning their rules of use, the paper-space requirements and bulk of braille books, lower redundancy, lower reading speeds, limited/slower scanning strategies for accessing information, and difficulties with tools for reading and writing. Research is presented from a longitudinal investigation into the cognitive factors affecting the development of braille reading accuracy, comprehension, and speed. Part B argues that there is evidence underlining the need for early teaching to compensate for the absence of casual, unstructured learning available to sighted infants and for continuing the teaching of braille, especially speed of reading, beyond the Primary School Stage of education. It is inferred that contrary to claims that computer technology will render this unique tactile code obsolete, it is in fact making access to braille easier, faster, and cheaper. The code’s flexibility and contribution to the personal, social, and economic independence of blind people are so important that it is vital that teachers, rehabilitation professionals, and psychologists recognise their roles in fostering the attainment of literacy through braille.

Tactile Sensitivity and Braille Reading in People with Early Blindness and Late Blindness

Introduction The inability to read quickly can be a disadvantage throughout life. This study focused on the associations of braille reading fluency and individual factors, such as the age at onset of blindness and number of years reading braille, and the tactile sensitivity of people with early and late blindness. The relationship between reading speed and these other factors was examined to identify factors that influence reading speed. Methods Nine people with early blindness and 10 people with late blindness participated in this study, which included the measurement of accuracy of word recognition, braille reading speed, and tactile sensitivity. Results We found a significant partial correlation between reading speed and the age at onset of blindness, controlling for number of years reading braille ( r = −0.68, p &lt; .005), and no significant partial correlation between tactile sensitivity and reading speed after controlling for the age at onset of blindness ( r = −0.08, ns). Discussion A direct relationship between reading speed and tactile sensitivity was not confirmed, and the age at onset of blindness appears not only to mediate the relationship between reading speed and tactile sensitivity but also may be a crucial factor influencing braille reading fluency. Implications for practitioners Our results suggested that a crucial factor that influences braille reading fluency was the age at onset of blindness, and that individuals should begin learning braille as early as possible.

Álvaro Pascual-Leone: a pioneer of non-invasive brain stimulation

Álvaro Pascual-Leone: a pioneer of non-invasive brain stimulation

Vibrotactile Masking Experiments Reveal Accelerated Somatosensory Processing in Congenitally Blind Braille Readers

Braille reading is a demanding task that requires the identification of rapidly varying tactile patterns. During proficient reading, neighboring characters impact the fingertip at ∼100 ms intervals, and adjacent raised dots within a character at 50 ms intervals. Because the brain requires time to interpret afferent sensorineural activity, among other reasons, tactile stimuli separated by such short temporal intervals pose a challenge to perception. How, then, do proficient Braille readers successfully interpret inputs arising from their fingertips at such rapid rates? We hypothesized that somatosensory perceptual consolidation occurs more rapidly in proficient Braille readers. If so, Braille readers should outperform sighted participants on masking tasks, which demand rapid perceptual processing, but would not necessarily outperform the sighted on tests of simple vibrotactile sensitivity. To investigate, we conducted two-interval forced-choice vibrotactile detection, amplitude discrimination, and masking tasks on the index fingertips of 89 sighted and 57 profoundly blind humans. Sighted and blind participants had similar unmasked detection (25 ms target tap) and amplitude discrimination (compared with 100 μm reference tap) thresholds, but congenitally blind Braille readers, the fastest readers among the blind participants, exhibited significantly less masking than the sighted (masker, 50 Hz, 50 μm; target-masker delays, ±50 and ±100 ms). Indeed, Braille reading speed correlated significantly and specifically with masking task performance, and in particular with the backward masking decay time constant. We conclude that vibrotactile sensitivity is unchanged but that perceptual processing is accelerated in congenitally blind Braille readers.

This Mattered to Me

Increasing the Braille Reading Rate, by Emerson Foulke, published in the October 1979 issue of the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, Volume 73, Number 8, pp. 318-323. Although I have been a braille user for a long time, it was not until I began my doctoral program at the University of Arizona that I could examine the technical aspects of braille, including its acquisition, instruction, and construction. My dissertation topic, which was directly related to instructional braille methods, provided me with many opportunities to study and gain a deeper understanding of braille. My personal interests as well as my professional inquiries combined to prompt me to search for ways in which braille reading speed could be improved, but there were very few studies aimed at increasing braille reading speed. Furthermore, it was very difficult to comprehend the complex perspectives of the topic, recognizing that numerous factors would be associated with the query. An article by Emerson Foulke about increasing braille reading speed gave me the framework in which to approach the topic. The article I chose to highlight in this essay was one of the first to summarize the findings of previous studies on increasing the speed of braille reading and offer practical applications. By contrasting the differences between visual and tactual reading, Foulke viewed braille not simply as a code, but as a tool to facilitate reading for people with visual impairments. More important, Foulke suggested ways in which the theories outlined in the articles he summarized could be implemented in practice. FOULKE'S VIEW OF BRAILLE Foulke saw reading behaviors and perceptual ability of readers as two of the biggest obstacles to increasing braille reading speed. It is not surprising to modern readers that the importance of proper hand movements, appropriate mechanical skills, and constant and fluid touch skills have been regarded as crucial factors in braille reading. Perceptual ability relates to potential modifications of ways in which braille text is being displayed. Foulke also perceived that using all fingers in the braille reading process would assist in improving reading speed. Furthermore, he proposed alternative methods of presenting braille characters, such as presenting braille characters in columns. Foulke examined changing the braille code as a viable option for improving the system and outlined a blueprint for making modifications to it. Since 1979, much has changed. There are now more people with visual impairments whose needs for braille are functional. …

Retention of high tactile acuity throughout the life span in blindness

Previous studies of tactile acuity on the fingertip, using passive touch, have demonstrated an age-related decline in spatial resolution for both sighted and blind subjects. We have reexamined this age dependence with two newly designed tactile-acuity charts that require active exploration of the test symbols. One chart used dot patterns similar to braille, and the other used embossed Landolt rings. Groups of blind braille readers and sighted subjects ranging from 12 to 85 years old were tested in two experiments. We replicated previous findings for sighted subjects by showing an age-related decrease in tactile acuity by nearly 1% per year. Surprisingly, the blind subjects retained high acuity into old age, showing no age-related decline. For the blind subjects, tactile acuity did not correlate with braille reading speed, the amount of daily reading, or the age at which braille was learned. We conclude that when measured with active touch, blind subjects retain high tactile acuity into old age, unlike their aging sighted peers. We propose that blind people's use of active touch in daily activities, not specifically braille reading, results in preservation of tactile acuity across the life span.

TMS of the occipital cortex induces tactile sensations in the fingers of blind Braille readers

Various non-visual inputs produce cross-modal responses in the visual cortex of early blind subjects. In order to determine the qualitative experience associated with these occipital activations, we systematically stimulated the entire occipital cortex using single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in early blind subjects and in blindfolded seeing controls. Whereas blindfolded seeing controls reported only phosphenes following occipital cortex stimulation, some of the blind subjects reported tactile sensations in the fingers that were somatotopically organized onto the visual cortex. The number of cortical sites inducing tactile sensations appeared to be related to the number of hours of Braille reading per day, Braille reading speed and dexterity. These data, taken in conjunction with previous anatomical, behavioural and functional imaging results, suggest the presence of a polysynaptic cortical pathway between the somatosensory cortex and the visual cortex in early blind subjects. These results also add new evidence that the activity of the occipital lobe in the blind takes its qualitative expression from the character of its new input source, therefore supporting the cortical deference hypothesis.

Measuring Braille reading speed with the MNREAD test

Braille is an important form of written communication for many visually disabled people. Perceptual factors limiting Braille reading speed are poorly understood, partly because of the lack of accurate, standardized testing methods. In this paper, we describe a new, standardized method for measuring Braille reading speed, adapted from the MNREAD test for print reading speed. The key principles include the use of well-characterized text samples composed of simple vocabulary, presented in a standard spatial layout, with sample length measured as the number of characters. We used the MNREAD test to study Braille reading speed in 44 experienced participants. The median reading speed was 124 words per minute, equivalent to 7.5 characters per sec. When measured in words per minute, Grade 1 reading speed was 71.5% of Grade 2 reading speed. This difference could be accounted for by the difference in the number of characters. This finding argues for the use of characters per sec as an appropriate metric for measuri...

Speed, Accuracy, and Comprehension of Adolescent Braille Readers in a Specialized School

All 30 adolescent braille readers at the Tennessee School for the Blind were interviewed using a questionnaire developed by the authors, and their reading rates, accuracy, and comprehension were determined via the Gilmore Oral Reading Test. The questionnaire tapped information on onset of blindness, early reading experiences, service delivery systems, cause of blindness, and acceptance and use of braille. The most important factor related to braille reading speed was age of onset of blindness. No direct relationships were found between reading speed and comprehension or reading speed and reading for pleasure in braille.