Tilt and reading speed.

Purpose: To measure the effect of head tilt on reading rate and to determine whether a difference existed between the body or the text being tilted.

Methods: The Wilkins Rate of Reading Test was used to measure rate of reading in a population of normal readers. In the first part of the study, rate of reading with a head tilt of 15 degrees and 30 degrees was measured; in the second part of the study, rate of reading with a body tilt of 45 degrees and 90 degrees or a text tilt of 45 degrees and 90 degrees was measured.

Results: For the first experiment, 30 participants, with a mean age 20.3 years, showed no effect on reading speed with a head tilt of 15 degrees or 30 degrees. In the second experiment, 20 participants, with mean age of 19.75 years, showed significantly slowed rate of reading when text was tilted to 45 degrees and 90 degrees (by a mean of 19 and 36 words per minute, respectively), and when reading while lying horizontally (90 degrees) with text upright (mean reduction of 34 words per minute). With a body tilt of 45 degrees, the effect on reading rate (mean reduction of 15 words per minute) just failed to reach significance (p = 0.058).

Conclusions: When text is tilted in relation to the body, by tilting either the text or the body, reading speed is affected. The effect of tilt on word recognition is discussed as a cause of the observed test results.