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Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read

410 points| renato_casutt | 4 years ago |bionic-reading.com | reply

271 comments

order
[+] pxeger1|4 years ago|reply
This does indeed seem to work for me, but the repeated emphasis on the patents and trademarks makes me suspicious. It looks like a company who cares much more about patent royalties than about their invention - whom I would never be willing to give my money to. Having seen the principle, I could write a browser extension in an hour. I suppose I'll have to wait 25 years (or whatever the French patent expiry length is), though.

If you want to read the patent (in French), it's here: https://data.inpi.fr/brevets/FR3052587. I couldn't find the German patent (10 2017 112 916.2), but I'm guessing it's the same substance.

[+] rapnie|4 years ago|reply
Yes, I agree. I guess this technology isn't for everyone. This is a real bummer. They did not have to patent and trademark this method, which in principle is such a basic mechanism. Just had to productize their service really well so they'd take the lead in monetizing.
[+] nickjj|4 years ago|reply
> I suppose I'll have to wait 25 years (or whatever the French patent expiry length is), though.

Is that how patents work in general?

I always thought (and could be very wrong here) that if a patent exists for something but you've developed an alternative something in total isolation without seeing the patent then you would have free reign on how to design and develop your thing without violating the patent.

[+] jxy|4 years ago|reply
𝐈 𝐜an'𝐭 𝐫ea𝐝 𝐭h𝐞 𝐩anten𝐭. 𝐖ha𝐭 𝐚bou𝐭 𝐬om𝐞 𝐯arian𝐭? 𝐃oe𝐬 𝐭hi𝐬 𝐭ex𝐭 𝐫ea𝐝 𝐛ette𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐰ors𝐞?

𝐖𝐡a𝐭 a𝐛ou𝐭 𝐭𝐡i𝐬 𝐭e𝐱𝐭? 𝐖ou𝐥𝐝 a𝐧y𝐭𝐡i𝐧𝐠 𝐰o𝐫𝐤 𝐛e𝐭𝐭e𝐫 𝐭𝐡a𝐧 𝐬i𝐦𝐩𝐥e 𝐩𝐥ai𝐧 𝐭e𝐱𝐭?

[+] kranner|4 years ago|reply
I have some feedback regarding the testimonial from “Sangeeth”, whose Memoji shows a Sikh person. Did the user choose their Memoji? The two don’t go together well for reasons of odd cultural differences in the Roman/Latin transliteration of sounds in the south and the north of India. The -th- cluster represents the dental t, IPA /t/, but only in South India. In the North the same sound is represented by -t-. Therefore you might find a Sikh named Sangeet, or a non-Sikh named Sangeeth, but a Sikh named Sangeeth? I’ve never seen a Sikh name using the -th- cluster in my life. There are Sikhs who grow up in South India of course but their names use the North Indian transliteration rules.

What I’m trying to say is: if you chose the Memoji with a turban to show an Indian person, it doesn’t match the -th in the name. As an Indian my first reaction was that the testimonial was fake, for this reason.

[+] renato_casutt|4 years ago|reply
Hi kranner I didn't mean to offend you. Or misrepresent the culture with a memoji. Sorry. If you feel it's out of order, then I can change it too. But what is more crucial for me is what Sangeeth said. And that is more important to me. By the way, all testimonials are real. 100%
[+] renato_casutt|4 years ago|reply
I have now changed the memoji of Sangeeth. It is important to me that everyone is aware that the testimonials are all 100% real.
[+] simonhamp|4 years ago|reply
Not sure if this intentional or just because this site is unfinished, but the repetition of the same paragraph throughout the page probably has the effect of making you believe you've read it faster, but it's more likely just recent familiarity of those words in that order that is allowing your brain to skip ahead rather than a specific visual cue.

I actually found the 'bumpiness' in reading a distraction and I had to read the paragraph a few times to truly get the meaning. So any speed gains from the reading methodology were lost during the understanding phase

[+] Cthulhu_|4 years ago|reply
> Bionic reading aims to encourage a more in-depth reading and understanding of written content

by reading faster? I mean the examples are pretty compelling and it did feel like I was reading faster, but at the same time their goals are at odds - faster reading doesn't necessarily mean more attentive reading, or being able to absorb more information.

Still, interesting technique. I just wish they made their examples / comparisons actual text instead of images; surely they can just write a snippet of JS or some HTML to render the effect in the browser itself. Or would that be giving up their secret sauce?

Also if any of the authors are here, please get rid of the "small text in between big text", I'm not sure if I need to read the one and then the other, or refocus my eyes on the big then the small text.

[+] Llamamoe|4 years ago|reply
I think the less friction there is between the words on a screen and you having them in your head, the more readily you're going to absorb it. And attention is a demanding resource to expend, even if non-ADHD people don't notice it due to having ample supply.

But yes, this would be awesome to see as a browser extension. Maybe I'll get around to it at some distant point in the future.

[+] blackbear_|4 years ago|reply
Actually this made it harder for me to read. The text felt "bumpy", unlike normal in text where it felt smoother and flowing. Maybe it's just a matter of habit.

Anyways, I don't believe speed-reading to be effective, especially for comprehension and long-term retention. The best and fastest way to get an overview of a written piece is not to read it faster, but to skip most of the content. Most of it is just supporting the core arguments, and can thus be skipped for an overview.

[+] corobo|4 years ago|reply
I'd say it almost halves my reading speed. In regards to speed reading I've always been under the impression it means you take in entire lines/sentences in one go rather than reading faster, skipping the sub-vocalisation step. For instance the homepage of HN is a quick scan vertically down the page until a headline catches my eye as interesting, no real side to side eye movement needed unless the title is a bit long

Maybe this brain reading faster than eyes thing is best aimed at sub-vocalisers? I'd be interested in knowing if the people this helps read 'out loud' in their heads

[+] layer8|4 years ago|reply
It felt like listening to speech with constantly changing volume. Probably because bold is associated with shouting/strong emphasis.
[+] DantesKite|4 years ago|reply
I felt the same way. It slows me down. But I imagine it would be very useful for dyslexic people. I have a family member who struggles to read; it's as if they have to consciously process what each character means. From that perspective, it's not so much speed reading, but bringing up people with slow reading to normal levels.
[+] phpnode|4 years ago|reply
Cool, here's a quick hack to try a similar technique with the comments in this thread (copy and paste into dev tools:

    $$('span.commtext').forEach(span => {
        const frag = document.createDocumentFragment();
        span.textContent.split(/\s+/).forEach(word => {
          const len = Math.ceil(word.length * 0.3);
          const leading = document.createElement('strong');
          leading.textContent = word.slice(0, len);
          const trailing = document.createTextNode(word.slice(len) + ' ');
          frag.appendChild(leading);
          frag.appendChild(trailing);
        });
        span.parentNode.replaceChild(frag, span);
    })
[+] hexomancer|4 years ago|reply
I made a version which works in all web pages, it is still very hacky though:

    function bionifyPage(){
        function bionifyWord(word) {
            if (word.length == 1) {
                return word;
            }
            var numBold = Math.ceil(word.length * 0.3);

            // return "<div class=\"bionic-highlight\">" + word.slice(0, numBold) + "</div>" +  + "<div class=\"bionic-rest\">" + word.slice(numBold) + "</div>";
            return "<b>" + word.slice(0, numBold) + "</b>" + "<span>" + word.slice(numBold) + "</span>";
        }

        function bionifyText(text) {
            var res = "";
            if (text.length < 10) {
                return text;
            }
            for (var word of text.split(" ")) {
                res += bionifyWord(word) + " ";
            }
            return res;
        }

        function bionifyNode(node) {
            if (node.tagName == 'SCRIPT') return;
            if ((node.childNodes == undefined) || (node.childNodes.length == 0)) {
                if ((node.textContent != undefined) && (node.tagName == undefined)) {
                    var newNode = document.createElement('span');
                    var bionifiedText = bionifyText(node.textContent)
                    newNode.innerHTML = bionifiedText;
                    if (node.textContent.length > 20){
                        node.replaceWith(newNode);
                    }
                }
            }
            else {
                for (var child of node.childNodes) {
                    bionifyNode(child);
                }
            }
        }
        bionifyNode(document.body);
    }
[+] renato_casutt|4 years ago|reply
I am very glad that Bionic Reading is being discussed in HN. I am aware that it cannot help everyone. But I also get a lot of feedback from people who are helped a lot by this reading mode.

Imagine you have problems with reading. You don't realize what a huge hurdle that is until you talk to people who are affected.

Being ashamed in front of society. The problem of learning new things. Being called stupid. And these are just a few examples of people affected.

Therefore I thank you very much that you discuss the problem critically. Best regards from the Alps, Renato

[+] sdoering|4 years ago|reply
Are there any actual studies on the gained speed being done by Independent scientists? I could not finde anything on their (quite beautifully done) marketing/landing page.

I see patent registrations, but no mention of any studies underpinning the claims being made.

To me this smells like all the other pseudo-scientific BS marketing and product people are trying to spoon-feed me every day.

Also as said in a sibling comment, for me it killed my reading speed. From their examples I would estimate by about half.

So thanks, but no thanks - this is not an offering for me. But it will probably find its audience. I could imagine it will be a big hit in the self optimization scene.

[+] renato_casutt|4 years ago|reply
We have just completed the preliminary study but I cannot publish any results yet. And you are right, of course. It does not help everyone. That's the way it is. But there is a lot of feedback thanking us and hoping that it will be available to as many services as possible.
[+] tarsinge|4 years ago|reply
I don't have links to studies but last time I checked and from anecdotal experience reading speed with high comprehension is limited by information throughput in the brain. It's also why languages spoken faster carry less information per word, because the limit is information processing. To experience that if you are a good reader, you can try to speak out loud a sentence while memorizing a second sentence and see that you'll not have process and understand the words until you have spoken them, even if you have read and stored them (short sentences like in TFA, obviously doesn't work on HN).
[+] debdut|4 years ago|reply
What! This blew me. This magic happening before my eyes. Forget the negative comments here on HN, the fact that you had such an insight, it's awesome.

Going constructive on the HN comments, if someone found something, you got a right to protect and earn from it anyway, charging for however a simple idea helps it spread and let's you do more innovation on it. But that said, maybe a library with paid access is a better idea than api which needs to travel across 14 seas and 7 oceans!

[+] Xophmeister|4 years ago|reply
I wonder if "word" is the correct unit, here; perhaps "morpheme" would work better, especially for multi-morphemic words or in compound nouns (e.g., in German). I think "syllable" may be a bit too much, unless the purpose was to teach reading. For example:

  ANTIDISESTAblishmentarianism  (initial 40% highlighted)

  vs.

  ANtiDisESTAblishMEntARianIsm  (highlighting rules over morphemes)

  vs.

  AnTiDisEstAbLIshMEntArIAnIsm  (highlighting rules over syllables)
An API that provided this as a service would be less trivial.

The lay-typographer in me really hates the look of it too. Aesthetics don't trump readability, but perhaps there's a middle ground where the font weight drops off (e.g., with exponential decay), rather than having the binary "bold vs. not bold".

[+] irutiw22|4 years ago|reply
For everyone who think this is new stuff: It is not new. There was another company in the German speaking space, Vienna more exactly, see craftworks.at, that offered almost the exact same product already back in 2019, perhaps even earlier, also called "Bionic Reading". In the current version of the website this does not appear, but it is saved in archive.org: https://web.archive.org/web/20190119032121/http://br.craftwo...

Perhaps the author of the current offering worked at craftworks at that time, then left and took his IP with him, I don't know.

[+] throwawaybutwhy|4 years ago|reply
The thing is, this (and craftworks.at or whatever) is still not a fully polished technology.

It probably can be optimized in a bunch of ways:

* Less drastic transitions between accentuated text and the rest

* An ML algorithm to select quantifiably better patterns (with distillation if necessary)

* Enrolling visually- and cognitively-impaired persons (e.g.dyslexics) into the study to avoid undercutting accessibility

We've been doing printing and written/illuminated books for many centuries, and statistical readability studies for the last 80 years or so. If a variation of this technique is better than the existing 'flat' type (even with ligatures), NASA/DARPA/NIH would be investigating it shortly.

[+] folli|4 years ago|reply
This reminds me of BeeLine Reader: https://www.beelinereader.com/
[+] gnicholas|4 years ago|reply
BeeLine founder here; interested to see this. My first reaction was that the "before" text in the before/after demonstration is both thin and grey.

It is well known that text that is too thin and too light-colored is not great to read. The text modification shown here makes certain letters easier to read, but it appears this is partially because the rest of the text is specifically difficult to read. The background of the page very light grey, it looks like, which would magnify this effect even more.

I wonder what this would look like with a not-too-thin-font that is black or near-black. I also wonder what it looks like on a full-width paragraph, as the sibling commenter mentioned.

Regardless, it's always nice to see innovation in this space!

[+] mekkkkkk|4 years ago|reply
I wonder how messy it would look to combine the two? BeeLine really works, especially in cases where the designer has disregarded the need for reasonable column widths. I feel this works too, but as with BeeLine the visual appearance is a bit jarring at first.
[+] mdp2021|4 years ago|reply
Why are you patenting ~"Highlight the first half of a printed word", Renato? Do you think that is patent material?
[+] renato_casutt|4 years ago|reply
Hi mdp2021 I understand your skepticism. The point is that the reader needs a fixed point to absorb the text. That's why this definition is placed. As shared in other comments, I unfortunately had to make very bad experiences. And the responsibility I perceive among others Marco (feedback website), I do not want to jeopardize. But I understand your objections.

Best regards from the Alps Renato

[+] Loic|4 years ago|reply
As a non native English speaker, this does not work.

Maybe because the part of the brain used to read/write/listen/speak a non native language is not the same as a native language. I really feel that I need to focus more while reading the example paragraph with the bionic stuff.

I tried the other examples, but I memorized enough of the text starting the 3rd example that I could not really infer anything. Putting the same text for all the examples is not really helpful in this case.

[+] cardamomo|4 years ago|reply
As a native English speaker, I also felt like I had to work harder to read the bionic text.

I am first grade teacher and have taught many children to read. Bionic's principles and algorithm do not match what I understand about the science of reading. This just holds the first part of a word, regardless of what the letters are. I would want an algorithm that is smarter than that (and I certainly wouldn't use bionic in the classroom, regardless!).

[+] doctoboggan|4 years ago|reply
There is a similar technology that flashes the words in place as you read. I remember it making the rounds a few years ago.

https://spritz.com/

[+] renato_casutt|4 years ago|reply
Yes, you are right. The problem with Spritz is that you lose the overview of the text and therefore you can't optimally absorb the context of the content. Some users have already confirmed this to me. But the technique is cool...
[+] totetsu|4 years ago|reply
There are many good RSVP apps and browser plugins. I find it better for news or other things I want to skim read, than trying to power through a novel.
[+] loa_in_|4 years ago|reply
There's also spreeder on Android in similar spirit which I found useful to read web content. The downside is I have to copy and paste it from the browser
[+] Terretta|4 years ago|reply
Site images blocked for me, and no examples in HTML.

Looks like “shortpixel.ai” blocked by AdGuard Base.

“Data on Swiss servers”, but shortpixel.com and shortpixel.ai owned by ID Scout of Romania. Their Wordpress plugin and CDN both superficially ‘act like’ plenty of free beacon tracker type image hosts, though this service offers paid plans and copy paste data legalese doesn’t reference advertising/measurement/aggregation third parties.

I haven’t the time to look into why AdGuard is blocking, but perhaps it’s that ad banner or ad injector companies like it:

https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardFilters/search?q=short...

[+] mrgill|4 years ago|reply
Should've made a browser extension for Chrome/Firefox.

Without that, how can this ever come to the browser?

[+] Nowado|4 years ago|reply
Surprisingly pleasant. I haven't speed read in a while, but this felt better than highlighting text, or centering word on screen (although those work better with audio support, but I guess that could be mixed together).

Few questions:

From what I understand BR figures out 'what part of the word is unique enough to be a good enough approximation of the word'. Is this somewhat context aware or generic (with parameters available for developer)?

How focused are you on iOS?

[+] r_hoods_ghost|4 years ago|reply
Are there any specific, measurable claims (and evidence) being made here with regards to what this supposed to achieve? "[Encouraging] a more in depth reading and understanding of written content" is pretty vague. Does it help with recall? Memorization etc. Personally it reads like those "dyslexic" fonts which actually make reading harder for a lot of people.
[+] snjy7|4 years ago|reply
My brain just automatically ignores the paragraph with the bold letters. I'm having to force myself to focus on reading it. Does anyone else experience the same?