Low vision aides show to have a drastic difference in reading speeds

I know it sounds obvious but reading the numbers is interesting to me.  Here is the short article.

Low vision aids can significantly improve reading speed and reading ability in patients with age-related macular degeneration, but better overall visual acuity still correlates with better reading ability.

According to a retrospective study of 530 patients with AMD who were provided either optical visual aids or closed-circuit TV systems as a low-vision aid, the added magnification of the system helped improved words read per minute.

For the entire group of patients, mean reading speed improved from 20 ± 33 words per minute (wpm) to 72 ± 35 wpm. However, among patients with a visual acuity less than 0.1, reading speed improved from 0.4 ± 3.8 wpm to 40 ± 13 wpm compared with 20 ± 28 wpm to 84 ± 30 wpm among patients with a visual acuity score of 0.1 or better.

Still, in the study, low vision aids had a marked impact on reading ability: Only 16% of patients were able to read before receiving a low vision aid compared with 94% after.

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