Reading is not only exquisitely sensitive to a number of visual processes or interventions that affect visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, visual fields, visual perception or oculomotor function, reading also is an outcome that matters to most patients.
Ramulu et al.
1 introduced a measure of sustained silent reading as a practical outcome measure that could be used in clinical trials of interventions from a variety of specializations—not just low-vision rehabilitation—including retinal, anterior segment optics, neurological, binocular, and other oculomotor functions. Vision researchers have previously used measures of reading acuity and optimum print size, out-loud reading speed, and accuracy; however, many patients are interested in being able to read silently over a longer period of time. This experiment demonstrated that this test of silent–sustained reading rate measures a different aspect of reading than when someone reads out loud. Using a clever methodology, the authors extracted a 15-minute reading test that was still highly predictive of the silent reading rate over longer reading times.