Abstract:
To assess the possible utility of Braille, and thenew ELIA tactile alphabet, for adults who lost their visionafter having learned to read visually.
Two groups of subjects were taught either Braille orthe ELIA tactile alphabet. All subjects were adults who hadlost significant vision after learning to read print visually.None knew Braille or the ELIA alphabet prior to the study. Overthe 60–hour study the subjects learned, and were testedon, their respective alphabet at letter heights of 0.7 cm (standardBraille size), 0.9 cm, 1.1 cm and 1.3 cm. Subjects were testedon sentence reading and random letter identification.
In all sentence reading tests, at each font size, theELIA group had consistently higher scores (p<0.016). In finaltesting, subjects read less accurately at 0.7 cm than with largerrepresentations of their respective fonts (p<0.017). Of allthe results from both groups, letter spacing affected only theBraille alphabet at 0.7 cm, where standard Braille intra wordspacing was markedly more difficult that standard Braille interword spacing (p<0.018). Significant correlations were observedbetween age, tactile acuity (measured with a Legge Tactile AcuityChart) and performance.
For previously sighted tactile learners, the ELIAfont offered greater accessibility than Braille at each fontsize. Furthermore, the Braille alphabet, at standard size andintra word spacing, was the most difficult of all the presentations.
Keywords: low vision • aging • learning