METHOD AND DEVICE FOR SPEEDING UP THE PERCEPTION AND READING OF WRITTEN TEXT, SYMBOLS, AND CORRESPONDING MARKS

Abstract: A method for speeding up the perception and reading of written text (9), symbols, or corresponding marks. Vertical lines or sets of vertical lines are used on top of or in connection with the text/marks to be read so that words/parts of words or other marks are divided into adjacent groups, and that the distance of the vertical lines from each other is increased as the speed of reading and perception increases.

Description: Method and device for speeding up the perception and reading of written text, symbols, and corresponding marks The present invention relates to a method for speeding up the perception and reading of written text, symbols, or correspon¬ ding marks. The targeted use is to eliminate the most common reading er¬ rors and bad reading habits of literate persons. These include reading aloud, regression and progression of the eyes, impre¬ cision and slowness of perception, and a narrow visual field. There is an increasing need for the invention, since more than 80 % of all information is in readable form. Furthermore, the amount of new information to be assimilated is increasing vig¬ orously. We no longer speak of a flood of information but of an information explosion. Studies have shown that, for examp¬ le, the information read by an employee during his or her wor¬ king hours will double within the next ten years. Even now, for example in Finland an employee uses on the average about one working hour daily for reading. This is more than 200 hours per year. The reading result does not meet today's requirements, because a majority of persons who know how to read have bad reading habits and downright reading errors, which hamper rapid and intensive reading. The users of the invention will be persons who read a great deal, for example for purposes of their work, hobbies, self development, or studies. By means of the invention it is possible to increase an avera¬ ge reader's reading speed by more than 50 %, and at the same time comprehension increases by about 10-20 %. A number of different methods have been used previously, and are still used, for eliminating reading errors and mainly for increasing the visual field. Most common of these methods are various courses and seminars and textbooks pertaining to the field. In the USA there was a boom of speed reading as early as the late 1950s. The best known very fast reader was John F. Kennedy, whose reading speed was at that time quoted as being about 1200 words a minute, whereas the speed of an average reader is about 150-200 words a minute. In Finland and in Sweden, seminars and courses in speed rea¬ ding were held about 10 years ago. A textbook on the subject has been published in Finnish: ARC - Tehokkaan Lukemisen Kurs- si (ARC - Advanced Reading Course), 1979, Mentran Ky. In addi¬ tion, some half a dozen books on speed reading have been writ¬ ten in Finnish. A computer aided instruction program called "Effective Rea¬ ding" was produced in 1989. The program is at present being marketed in Finland, Sweden, England and the German-speaking area solely to very large working communities. In this case the users in one working community may number several hundred. The program requires the user to have a PC, but previous expe¬ rience in using a computer is not necessary for learning. The program provides a good learning result even without personal guidance. A so-called reading machine has been produced in Finland. The name of the apparatus is Effee-to-Read. The apparatus has the size of a table-top telephone, and paper sheets bearing com¬ binations of letters and numerals to be perceived are fed at different speeds through the apparatus. The apparatus is a self-coaching package, and it has been sold primarily to large working communities. The creation of the apparatus was influ¬ enced by the Danish ReadMaster apparatus. ReadMaster was manu¬ factured already in the first half of the 1970s. Its prin- ciple is the same as that of the Effee-to-Read apparatus. All of the above-mentioned methods and apparatuses have cer¬ tain shortcomings in common. First of all, they all require a person to engage in excessive efforts and practice in something that has already been learnt earlier. Reading is regarded as being so self-evident and com¬ monplace that people are not prepared to dedicate several hours of practice for the purpose of developing it. Training reading intensity through reading books in the field requires very high discipline and really high motivation. Such persons are very few. Seminars and courses require going to a given place at a spe¬ cified time. In working communities they require arrangements, absence, and movement, all of which involve costs. A computer program requires a computer, the use of which for re-learning to read, at least during working hours, will cause suspicion and confusion in a working community. On the other hand, very few persons are ready to stay at the workplace to practice their reading speed after working hours. Reading machines are very expensive, and one machine can be used by only one person at a time, and so the popularization of the program will not succeed in a short period of time. On the other hand, working communities are aware of the need for improving the results of reading, but they are not prepa¬ red to invest, for example, two thousand Finnish marks per one employee in training costs. The method according to the invention is characterized in that vertical lines or sets of vertical lines are used on top of/in connection with the text/marks to be read, so that the words/parts of words or other marks are divided into adjacent groups and that the distance of the vertical lines from each other is increased as the speed of reading and perception in¬ creases. The basic idea of the invention is to increase the extent of the reader's visual field, to speed up the movement of the eye between points of fixation, and to speed up perception and make it more precise, so that all this takes place only through reading, for about 15-30 min daily, any printed text with the help of, for example, a transparency set. The very thin printed vertical lines in the transparencies and their intersection points with the lines of text will guide eye movement so that the eyes will become accustomed to and adopt a correct and natural reading rhythm. The reader will initially use a transparency suitable for him¬ self or herself, with a high density of vertical lines, about 7-8 fixations per one book page of lines. As the eyes become accustomed, the degree of difficulty is increased by shifting to the use of a transparency which has one vertical line fe¬ wer. This is done until a transparency with only one vertical line is arrived at. By the time the reader has become used to this, his or her reading has converted from reading from the left to the right to reading from the top to the bottom. Res¬ pectively, various degrees of reading aloud have disappeared and the reading speed has in the best cases increased up to four-fold. The product according to the invention comprises, two trans¬ parency sets of different size, each having eight different line densities. They are also accompanied by precise instruc¬ tions for use, containing information about the theory of rea¬ ding, its importance, and the structure of the eye. The transparency set is used daily for about two months, which time will suffice for increasing the reading speed by at mini- mum about 50 % and at maximum about 400 %. Embodiments of the method and the device are disclosed in the subordinate claims in the patent claims. The advantages of the system according to the invention are two-fold. First, the reader need not attend a course or go to a seminar, practice with the help of a computer program, or learn the subject from a book. In other words, the learning will not re¬ quire effort. This learning will implement the "Learn-by- Doing" method at its best. This will also save the reader a great deal of time and ex¬ pense. The reader will receive positive feedback necessary during the learning process from being able to shift to a de¬ gree more difficult transparency as he or she makes progress. This increases motivation for learning and, what is best, the learning takes place on the conditions of the person involved, when the person is reading material which he or she finds im¬ portant and essential. The "device" can always be carried along with the material to be read, and it is by far the most economical method and device for increasing reading speed. On the other hand, we can examine the advantages from the viewpoint of the working community. Its most significant ad¬ vantage over others is that, with the "device" it is possible to increase reading results of the entire working community considerably more economically and more efficiently. The ex¬ ternal contact costs of one "trainee" will amount to only 20- 40 Finnish marks, whereas a seminar will cost 2000 Finnish marks/student. The "device" requires hardly any organization costs within the working community. It can be linked to other things for the development of the personnel, etc. The financial savings and the advantages achieved with the "device" are considerable, if for example 500 employees in¬ crease by 50 % the speed of the reading they do in their work¬ ing hours. Assuming that each one reads for about one hour a day during the working hours, this will make in a year 500 x 200 (= working days per year) x salary costs per hour = 100,000 x salary costs per hour, with an* investment which amounts to 500 x 40 Finnish marks = 20,000 Finnish marks. The invention is described below with the help of examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 depicts the placing of a transparency, belonging to the device according to the invention, on a written text, Figures 2-7 depict transparencies of a transparency set, the number of vertical lines on them being eight, five, four, three, two, and one. Figures 8 and 9 depict two transparencies of a transparency set used when the person using them has "right ocular dominan¬ ce", and Figure 10 depicts the method according to the invention as used on a display screen. In Figures 1-7, the "device" consists of a set of transparen¬ cies. The transparency set comprises eight transparencies, of which the first 1, fourth 4, fifth 5, sixth 6, seventh 7, and eighth 8 are shown. Figure 1 shows how a transparency 2 which is part of a set is placed on top of a written text 9. The thickness of a transparency is about 0.05-0.1 mm, and the sizes are 120 mm x 200 ' mm and 250 mm x 200 mm. The transparen¬ cies have very thin printed lines, the density of the lines decreasing according to the degree of difficulty. Transparency 1 has eight vertical lines and transparency 8, which is more demanding in its degree of difficulty, has only one vertical line. The degree of difficulty increases so that the transpa¬ rency next in order always has one line fewer and so that the distance of the lines from each other also increases. In Figu¬ re 9 of transparency 18 the vertical line divides the visual field - the page to be read - so that 65 % of the field - the page to be read - is left on its right side and 35 % of the field on its left side. Thus the so-called "left-right ocular dominance" can be taken into account in this more difficult degree. If the reader's right eye is dominant, the line divi¬ des the fields so that 65 % is left on the right side and 35 % on the left. In the contrary situation the reader will merely turn the transparency over. The printed lines are either all of one color, or their color may vary either within one trans¬ parency or within the entire set of transparencies. The lines are very thin, about 0.05-0.07 mm. The invention can be used, modified, in a great number of con¬ nections and in already existing apparatuses. The question is of increasing the speed of eye movement, widening the visual field, and increasing the precision and speed of perception. All of these eye functions are associated with very many eve¬ ryday tasks, and their intensification and developing is sig¬ nificant and even necessary insofar as seeing and perceiving are concerned. Furthermore, the lines can be used on computer screens, as shown in Figure 10, for example for eliminating reading errors and dyslexia of a certain degree. In this case it could be linked with a computer program which, on the basis of an ini¬ tial test or "vision profile" defined, personally guides the eye movement, visual field and perception of a person. Diskette-based interactive publications are already a reality. In such a publication the reader could adjust the text to be read to suit his or her eyes with the help of the auxiliary lines according to the invention, in which case reading would be highly efficient and more pleasant to the eyes. In advertising the lines can be used, for example, for high¬ lighting an advertising picture or some part of the text so that the lines direct the view at the target concerned. In this case the question is no longer of a set of vertical lines but a plurality of sets of lines which may seem like a "mess" to the viewer. The best area of application for this will be on television, in which moving sets of lines would be used. In the manufacture of printing paper, for example, the use of the paper for the production of teaching materials - textbooks - could be taken into account. For example, "watermarks" im¬ plementing the invention could be printed on the paper, linked to it, etc.

Claims: Claims 1. A method for speeding up the perception and reading of written text (9) , symbols, or corresponding marks, character¬ ized in that vertical lines or sets of vertical lines are used on top of the text/marks Xo be read so that words/parts of words or other marks are divided into adjacent groups and that the distance of the vertical lines from each other is inc¬ reased as the speed of reading and perception increases. 2. A method according to Claim 1, characterized in that transparencies (1-8) on which the vertical lines are located are placed on top of a written text (9) . 3. A method according to Claim 1, characterized in that ver¬ tical lines are used on the screen of a computer or a corres¬ ponding device (Figure 10) in connection with a written text. 4. A method according to any of the above claims, characte¬ rized in that the distance of the lines relative to each other is greater on one side of the area to be read, i.e. on the side of the dominant eye, if one of the eyes is dominant (Fi¬ gures 8 and 9) . 5. A device for implementing the method according to any of the above claims, characterized in that the device is made up of a set of transparencies (1-8) each of which has vertical lines so that the transparency set has, for example, eight transparencies, the first (1) having eight adjacent vertical lines and the last (8) having one vertical line, the vertical lines in the transparencies dividing the text to be read into groups the width of which increases as the transparencies are replaced. 6. A device according to Claim 5, characterized in that the transparency sets are available in different sizes and they can be selected according to the size of the area to be read. AMENDED CLAIMS [received by the International Bureau on 11 February 1994 (11.02.94); original claims 1 and 2 replaced by new claim 1; claims 3-6 replaced by new claims 2-5 (2 pages)] 1. A method for speeding up the perception and reading of written text (9) , symbols, or corresponding marks, wherein the vertical lines or sets of vertical lines are used on top of the text/marks to be read so that words/parts of words or other marks are divided into adjacent groups and that the distance of the vertical lines from each other is increased as the speed of reading and perception increases, characterized in that transparencies (1-8) on which the vertical lines are located are placed on top of a written text (9) . 2. A method according to Claim 1, characterized in that vertical lines are used on the screen of a computer or a corresponding device (Figure 10) in connection with a written text (9) . 3. A method according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the distance of the lines relative to each other is greater on one side of the area to be read, i.e. on the side of the dominant eye, if one of the eyes is dominant (Figures 8 and 9) . 4. A device for implementing the method according to any of the above claims, characterized in that the device is made up of a set of transparencies (1-8) each of which has vertical lines so that the transparency set has, for example, eight transparencies, the first (1) having eight adjacent vertical lines and the last (8) having one vertical line, the vertical lines in the transparencies dividing the text to be read into groups the width of which increases as the transparencies are replaced. 5. A device according to Claim 4, characterized in that the transparency sets are available in different sizes and they can be selected according to the size of the area to be read.

Inventors: KOIVUSALO ESKO ANTERO, KOIVUSALO, ESKO, ANTERO
Applicants: KOIVUSALO ESKO ANTERO, KOIVUSALO, ESKO, ANTERO
Application year: 1993
Main classification: G09B17
IPC codes: G09B17